After three straight defeats either side of the World Cup break, Salernitana attempt to stop their slide down the Serie A standings on Sunday, when they welcome Torino to Stadio Arechi.
Coach Davide Nicola takes on his former club having seen his side pick up just one point since October, while Toro travel south on the back of a disappointing home draw.
Match preview
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Suffering a 3-0 loss to Monza in their final match before Serie A's long winter break saw Salernitana's bright start to the season slightly soured, and resuming competitive action several weeks later, they were unable to pick up any points on Wednesday.
Facing reigning champions Milan at Stadio Arechi, the Salerno side found themselves two goals down within the first 15 minutes, and despite Federico Bonazzoli's 85th-minute strike troubling the Scudetto holders late on, they could not produce an equaliser.
As a result, Salernitana have now lost their last three league matches, having remained unbeaten in their previous three as they pushed on towards mid-table security.
Davide Nicola, a Turin-born former coach of Sunday's opponents, will be keen to halt that slide against his boyhood club, as his current employers last recorded four straight defeats at the end of 2021, when apparently destined for the drop down to Serie B.
Since then, Nicola has kept them up and now has them only three points adrift of a spot in the top half of the table; five adrift of ninth-placed Torino. Salernitana have lost all four of their top-flight encounters with the Turin club to date, though, while conceding 16 goals in the process.
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Continuing that dominance over their Campanian counterparts, last term Torino won both of the teams' meetings without conceding.
Such a result in their first away fixture of 2023 would please Toro coach Ivan Juric, whose side stumbled to a 1-1 draw with rock-bottom Verona in midweek despite having far more of the ball on home soil.
Aleksei Miranchuk scored the Granata's leveller midway through the second half; at least salvaging a point from their meeting with Juric's former club.
Sitting 13 points clear of the relegation zone approaching the season's midway point, Torino are not facing another relegation battle this spring, but any chances of European qualification also appears slim due to the calibre of clubs ahead of them and a shortage of firepower up front.
They have also lost four of their last six Serie A away games - winning just one - a run which followed a seven-match unbeaten run on the road. Surely, that form must change soon if they are to trouble the top seven.
Team News
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On Sunday, Salernitana will again be without captain Pasquale Mazzocchi due to a knee injury, while first-choice goalkeeper Luigi Sepe and midfielder Guilio Maggiore are also absent. Having made a big impression on his debut against Milan, veteran Mexico international Guillermo Ochoa replaces Sepe once again.
Though Antonio Candreva - who has scored five times against Torino in Serie A - returns to the fold following his suspension last time out, Lassana Coulibaly must now serve a one-match ban for accumulated bookings. Another midfielder, Juventus loanee Hans Nicolussi Caviglia, arrived in Salerno this week and could feature from the bench.
Federico Bonazzoli equalled Marco Di Vaio as the club's highest top-flight scorer (on 12 goals) by finding the net on Wednesday, so will hope to supplant six-goal Senegal striker Boulaye Dia or Krzysztof Piatek in the hosts' front pairing.
Meanwhile, Torino will have Alessandro Buongiorno back from a ban and in contention for a place in Ivan Juric's back three, with only Pietro Pellegri and Ola Aina set to miss out through injury.
Antonio Sanabria and Karol Linetty are the main candidates for promotion to the visitors' lineup, but Juric could even name an unchanged starting XI.
Salernitana possible starting lineup:
Ochoa; Lovato, Radovanovic, Fazio; Sambia, Candreva, Bohinen, Vilhena, Bradaric; Dia, Bonazzoli
Torino possible starting lineup:
Milinkovic-Savic; Djidji, Schuurs, Rodriguez; Lazaro, Ricci, Lukic, Vojvoda; Radonjic, Miranchuk; Vlasic
We say: Salernitana 1-1 Torino
Both sides will see this game as a potential three points to be bagged against opponents of similar standing in Serie A this season, and a close-fought contest should end with the spoils shared. Neither team is prolific and both are well-organised, so a low-scoring draw is on the cards.
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.
Top tip
Jonathan O'Shea
