Serie A matchday four: who is out, and the single suspension in the whole league
The disciplinary panel banned a single player for the whole round, plus two Bologna officials. Napoli lose Meret and Alisson Santos, Udinese lose Solet for two games. Only the cases with a firm source, and our calls on the games affected.
Who is missing on the fourth matchday of Serie A, and why. Below are only the cases with a firm source: the disciplinary rulings and the clubs' own statements. There are no return dates here, because the clubs did not give any: what circulates are estimates, and they contradict each other.
Suspensions: one player in the whole league
The disciplinary panel on 8 September banned a single player for the round: Gaetano of Atalanta, one game and a ten-thousand-euro fine, sent off at the end of the match against Roma for a gravely disrespectful remark to the referee. He misses Atalanta against Cagliari, the club he used to play for.
On that game our call is under 4.5 goals, confidence 7 out of 10.
Two Bologna officials were also punished: head coach Domenico Tedesco, two matches and five thousand euros for a gravely disrespectful remark to the referee after his dismissal, repeated in the dressing-room area at the end; and president Joey Saputo, banned from club duties through 30 September for a gravely offensive remark to the match officials.
Napoli: two diagnoses after the Champions League
Napoli issued an official statement with the results of the scans after the Arsenal game, which both players left during the match:
Meret: a low-grade injury to the long adductor of the left thigh.
Alisson Santos: a medium-grade injury to the left hamstring.
They are the two heaviest injuries of the week in the league. Napoli play Sunday 13 at 18:00 against Bologna, who arrive without their head coach on the bench: our call is the home side to score, confidence 6 out of 10.
Udinese: Solet misses two games
Udinese announced a pectineus muscle injury in the left leg for Solet. The defender misses Monday's trip to Inter Milan and the following game against Cagliari.
On Inter against Udinese, Monday 14 at 20:45, our call is over 1.5 goals, confidence 7 out of 10.
Roma: Kone to be assessed
On Thursday in Istanbul Koné came off on 53 minutes, replaced by Pisilli. There is no club statement with a diagnosis: whether he plays in Turin on Monday 14 at 18:30 will be decided in the coming days, and until there is a medical report we are not writing how long he will be out.
On Torino against Roma our call is the away side to score, confidence 7 out of 10.
Why this list is short
Because every line above has a document behind it. The long lists circulating elsewhere mix medical reports, training-ground doubts and rumours, and once those three sit on the same line you can no longer tell which is which. What gets resolved in the hours before kick-off, we add once it is resolved.
Every game of the round with our calls is on the Serie A page. The record of settled calls is in the results history, and the individual ones are in player predictions.
