Both stuck inside Serie A's drop zone and facing a season-long scrap for survival, Venezia and Lecce will meet at Stadio Pier Luigi Penzo on Monday evening.
Lecce's board finally lost patience with Luca Gotti and decided to make a managerial change during the international break, and they will hope to see immediate results in Venice.
Match preview
© Imago
Bitten by their inability to retain leads once again, Venezia lost 2-1 at home to fellow promoted side Parma last time out, after Hans Nicolussi Caviglia gave them an early advantage which was subsequently frittered away.
The Lagunari have now dropped no fewer than 14 points from winning positions since returning to the Italian top flight, and last season's Serie B playoff winners have still won just twice across all competitions since Eusebio Di Francesco took charge in the summer.
Languishing at the foot of the standings, they have struggled to keep the back door shut, and no other team has conceded more goals from set-pieces - a tally of nine puts them level with Cagliari.
Di Francesco - who had a brief and unsuccessful spell as Lecce coach over a decade ago - is therefore under pressure to produce an upturn, and this clash with one of Venezia's relegation rivals is already being seen as a six-pointer.
Both previous top-flight games between the clubs at Stadio Penzo have ended in draws, with the second taking place exactly 23 years before Monday's meeting, but only victory will be acceptable this time around.
© Imago
While Di Francesco has been given a stay of execution, Luca Gotti was fired by Lecce's hierarchy after a 1-1 home draw with Empoli, to be replaced by the well-travelled Marco Giampaolo.
The Giallorossi's new boss will now become just the third coach to manage 10 different teams in Serie A history, after fellow itinerants Carlo Mazzone and Alberto Malesani (both 11) - though most of his appointments have naturally ended in failure.
The former AC Milan and Sampdoria manager has a huge task on his hands to turn an ailing side around, as they will make the long trip north to Venice as the only team yet to score in an away game this season.
Lecce have picked up just one point on the road so far, combining a leaky back line with an impotent attack: they have also scored the fewest goals across Europe's top five leagues this term - a total of five after 12 matches is the club's worst performance since 1990.
As a result, Giampolo will hope to harness the latent goalscoring ability of star striker Nikola Krstovic, who netted a UEFA Nations League hat-trick for Montenegro earlier this week.
Team News
© Imago
As Venezia seem to have the rare luxury of a fully fit squad, Eusebio Di Francesco can field his favoured starting XI, most likely featuring Gianluca Busio and Gaetano Oristanio in support of Joel Pohjanpalo up front.
The Finnish striker has scored three of his four league goals at Stadio Penzo this season, while Oristanio had completed the most dribbles (26) in Serie A after 12 matchdays.
After starting the campaign as deputy to Jesse Joronen, on-loan goalkeeper Filip Stankovic should continue between the posts on Monday evening - there is no doubt, though, about the identity of Lecce's number one.
Since the start of the 2022-23 season, Wladimiro Falcone is the only player who has not missed a single minute of play in Serie A, appearing in 88 games out of 88.
Marco Giampaolo may make some changes ahead of the ex-Sampdoria stopper, and Lameck Banda's absence due to an ankle fracture could open the door for Santiago Pierotti - scorer of the Salentini's equaliser last time out.
Lecce's new boss will also be without the services of Medon Berisha, Kevin Bonifazi, Balthazar Pierret and Rares Burnete due to injury.
Venezia possible starting lineup:
Stankovic; Candela, Idzes, Svoboda; Zampano, Duncan, Nicolussi Caviglia, Haps; Busio, Oristanio; Pohjanpalo
Lecce possible starting lineup:
Falcone; Guilbert, Gaspar, Baschirotto, Gallo; Coulibaly, Ramadani; Dorgu, Rafia, Pierotti; Krstovic
We say: Venezia 2-1 Lecce
Venezia's two wins so far have both come on home turf, and how they fare at their lagoonside headquarters will surely dictate whether the Lagunari survive this season.
As Lecce have proven too easy to exploit and are yet to find the right formula up front, expect Marco Giampolo's latest dugout debut to end in defeat.
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.
