**Cagliari's injury crisis meets Lecce's hot streak** — the Rossoblu are missing key defenders, but the visitors just got mullered 4-0 at home. This is the kind of trap game that defines September. ⚽

Cagliari are 2W-1D-2L and scraped past Parma last time out. Lecce bounced back from that Roma disaster with a 2-0 win over Venezia, so they've got some momentum. H2H is basically coin flip territory (24 games, dead even), but home teams in this fixture have historically had the edge.

Key storylines:

- **Cagliari's backline without R. Idrissi** — the Rossoblu are patched up on defense with Z. Pedro and J. Rodríguez tasked to hold the line against Lecce's front three.

- **Lecce's attack looking for consistency** — N. Štulić and S. Pierotti need to channel that Venezia energy rather than repeat the Roma show.

- **A. Deiola and A. Romano in midfield** — **Cagliari** lean on their engine room to control tempo and shield the injury-ravaged backline.

Expected lineups:

- **Cagliari**: E. Caprile, Z. Pedro, J. Rodríguez, A. Obert, G. Zappa, A. Deiola, A. Romano, A. Fadera, D. Maldini, J. Fazzini, P. Mendy

- **Lecce**: W. Falcone, C. Ndaba, J. Siebert, K. Gaspar, D. Veiga, L. Coulibaly, O. Ngom, N. Konan, H. Lærke, S. Pierotti, N. Štulić

Prediction:

**Cagliari 1-1 Lecce**

Defensive fragility vs. attack form — slight edge to the home side in a cagey Monday night. 🔴