Hellas Verona will endeavour to climb out of the Serie A relegation zone when they travel to Stadio Luigi Ferraris to face Genoa on Friday night.
While the hosts have only won one of their last five top-flight matches, the visitors are seeking to end a 10-game winless run in all competitions.
Match preview
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After beating both Salernitana in Serie A and Reggiana in the Coppa Italia, Genoa were unable to win a third successive match in all competitions as they suffered a 2-1 league defeat at Cagliari last weekend.
Albert Gudmundsson scored his third goal in as many games to cancel out Nicolas Viola's opener, but it was Cagliari who had the last laugh as Gabriele Zappa arrowed a strike into the bottom corner 20 minutes from time to help the hosts claim all three points.
Alberto Gilardino's side have lost three of their last four Serie A matches and have subsequently slipped down to 14th in the table, just three points above Friday's opponents Verona who occupy the third and final spot in the relegation zone.
Genoa will welcome a return to Stadio Luigi Ferraris where they have picked up seven of their 11 Serie A points this season, admirably accumulating one point in a 2-2 draw with Scudetto champions Napoli before claiming maximum points in 4-1 and 1-0 victories over Roma and Salernitana respectively.
However, success on Friday is not a given for the Rossoblu as they have only won one of their last six meetings with Verona – a 3-0 home victory in August 2020.
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After avoiding demotion to the second tier by the skin of their teeth last season courtesy of success in the relegation playoff, Hellas Verona have since endured a difficult start to the new campaign, losing seven of their opening 11 Serie A games.
The Gialloblu won their first two top-flight matches, but have since failed to win each of their last nine and suffered their fifth successive defeat in all competitions against Monza last weekend, losing by a 3-1 scoreline on home soil.
Michael Folorunsho's 86th-minute strike proved inconsequential as earlier goals from Lorenzo Colombo (2) and Luca Caldirola condemned Marco Baroni's side to their third home loss in a row.
Back-to-back fixtures against Genoa and Lecce, teams who also sit in the bottom half of the table, are up next for Verona, who can climb out of the relegation zone and move level on points with the former with a victory on Friday.
Verona have already lost four of their first six Serie A away games this season, but they can be optimistic of success on Friday as they have not lost any of their last four meetings with Genoa and secured a 1-0 home win in their most recent encounter in April last year.
Team News
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Genoa will be without Mateo Retegui (knee) and Filip Jagiello (unspecified) due to injury, while Junior Messias has missed the last five games in all competitions with a muscle problem and Friday's game may come too soon for the Brazilian.
However, Mattia Bani is available for selection after serving a one-match suspension last time out and the centre-back is expected to replace Koni De Winter in the starting lineup, joining Radu Dragusin and Johan Vasquez in the back three.
The absence of Retegui could see playmaker Ruslan Malinovskyi continue in attack alongside Gudmundsson, who is Genoa's top scorer so far this season with seven goals in all tournaments.
As for Hellas Verona, Pawel Dawidowicz was forced off on the half-hour mark with a thigh injury against Monza and the defender will join Juan Cabal and Jayden Braaf (both thigh) on the sidelines.
Giangiacomo Magnani and Davide Faraoni are both one booking away from a suspension, the latter received his fourth yellow card of the campaign last time out, but both players are expected to continue in the first XI at centre-back and right wing-back respectively.
Baroni may persist with Federico Bonazzoli and Milan Duric up front, although Cyril Ngonge – who has narrowly bettered every other Verona player in the final third this term with two goals and one assist in Serie A – will be looking to force his way back into the starting lineup.
Genoa possible starting lineup:
Martinez; Bani, Dragusin, Vasquez; Sabelli, Frendrup, Badelj, Strootman, Martin; Malinovskyi, Gudmundsson
Hellas Verona possible starting lineup:
Montipo; Magnani, Hein, Terracciano; Faraoni, Hongla, Duda, Folorunsho, Doig; Ngonge, Djuric
We say: Genoa 2-1 Hellas Verona
A closely-fought contest between two evenly-matched teams who are both desperate to return to winning ways could be on the cards on Friday.
Three of the last four meetings between these two clubs have ended as a draw, but we believe that Genoa will do just enough to claim maximum points against a defensively-vulnerable Verona outfit.
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.
Top tip
Oliver Thomas
