Torino vs. Bologna: Preview and TV schedule

It has been a long time since Torino were last challenging for the Serie A title, but some of the old magic is back in the maroon half of Turin this season. Toro are well and truly in the hunt for Europe once again, having not played continentally since being eliminated from the discontinued Intertoto Cup over a decade ago. They're currently down in seventh in the league, but could provisionally move level on points with Hellas Verona in fifth with a win early on Sunday.

There's no doubt that Torino ought to pick up three points, too. That's because they welcome another fallen giant in Bologna to the Olimpico this weekend, with the once-great Emilian outfit currently struggling down in 17th place in the Serie A table. They've won only three league matches all season, and as of yet the decision to sack coach Stefano Pioli hasn't been vindicated. His replacement, Davide Ballardini, is still looking for a win.

When these sides met at the Renato dall'Ara earlier in the season Torino picked up a 2-1 win, with the now-departed Danilo D'Ambrosio opening the scoring for the visitors after just a couple of minutes. He's now secured a big move to Inter Milan, and Bologna will no doubt be looking to capitalise on his inferior first-team replacement Salvatore Masiello.

However, the rossoblù are without several important first-teamers, with the most notable being suspended Greek midfielder Panagiotis Kone, whose four league goals make him Bologna's top scorer this season. That's after club captain and star playmaker Alessandro Diamanti left to join Guangzhou Evergrande. And losing your best player is clearly what you need in a relegation battle.

Torino have midfielder Alessandro Gazzi out through injury, though otherwise are expected to be at full-strength.

Out: Alessandro Gazzi (injured); Jean-François Gillet (suspended). In doubt: None.

Out: Marek Čech, Francesco Della Rocca, Michele Pazienza, Robert Acquafresca (injured); Panagiotis Kone, Davide Moscardelli (suspended). In doubt: None.

Torino: Daniele Padelli; Emiliano Moretti, Kamil Glik, Nikola Maksimović; Salvatore Masiello, Alexander Farnerud, Giuseppe Vives, Migjen Basha, Matteo Darmian; Ciro Immobile, Alessio Cerci.

Bologna: Gianluca Curci; Nicolò Cherubin, Cesare Natali, Mikael Antonsson; Andrea Mantovani, Rene Krhin, Diego Pérez, Lazaros Christodoulopoulos, György Garics; Jonathan Cristaldo, Rolando Bianchi.