Two teams expected to face a battle for Serie A survival meet at Stadio Bentegodi on Sunday, when Hellas Verona host Empoli.
While Hellas have been struggling since a promising start to the season, their visitors' fine early form has nosedived - though they did cause a cup shock in midweek.
Match preview
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After suffering a 5-0 thumping by Inter Milan a few days earlier, Verona slipped to perhaps a more significant loss last time out, going down 1-0 to likely relegation rivals Cagliari.
While defeat was expected against the Scudetto holders, losing in Sardinia meant that they were surpassed in the standings by a direct competitor for Serie A salvation.
With one of the leakiest back lines across Europe's top five leagues, the Scaligeri have conceded at least one goal in each of their last 11 top-flight fixtures, at a troubling average of 2.7 per game.
Though they have now lost their last three matches, the bottom half of the table is so congested that Verona were the first team to lose 10 of their first 14 without sitting inside the drop zone since Serie A returned to 20 teams in 2004.
Results this weekend could see that precarious status change, though, and head coach Paolo Zanetti will be under serious pressure when welcoming his former club to the Bentegodi.
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Without a win in their last six league games against Verona - having lost both meetings last term - Empoli now visit a venue where they last tasted top-flight success some nine years ago.
Not only is recent history against them, but the Azzurri's current form is not much better than their ailing hosts, who they lead by four points in the tightly-packed standings.
Following last week's 3-0 defeat to AC Milan, Roberto D'Aversa's men have won just one of their last nine league matches - against promoted strugglers Como in November - following a prior run of two wins and two draws.
Owing to an unexpectedly bright start to the campaign, a club that were almost demoted last season are still occupying a place in mid-table, and events in midweek will have certainly boosted morale.
Beating Tuscan rivals Fiorentina in a Coppa Italia edition of the Derby dell'Arno put Empoli into the quarter-finals on Wednesday: after letting a lead slip, Sebastiano Esposito then grabbed a late equaliser, before the Azzurri prevailed on penalties.
Team News
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Verona will be without long-term absentee Juan Cruz, midfield duo Ondrej Duda and Dani Silva, and Danish defender Martin Frese due to injury this weekend, while Diego Coppola must serve a one-match ban for accumulated bookings.
The latter's absence could see Pawel Dawidowicz return to the hosts' starting lineup, though young Daniele Ghilardi is another contender.
Meanwhile, Empoli's list of missing men remains lengthy, as Szymon Zurkowski, Tyronne Ebuehi, Saba Sazonov, Nicolas Haas and Jacopo Fazzini are still unavailable; furthermore, Mattia De Sciglio and Alberto Grassi are both doubts.
After resting a few key players for his team's midweek cup win - while offering chances to promising goalkeeper Jacopo Seghetti and Swedish winger Emmanuel Ekong - Roberto D'Aversa should revert to a more familiar XI on Sunday.
Set to return up front, Milan loanee Lorenzo Colombo scored the only top-flight brace of his career against Verona at the Bentegodi last year, and 82% of his Serie A goals have come away from home.
Hellas Verona possible starting lineup:
Montipo; Tchatchoua, Ghilardi, Magnani, Bradaric; Serdar, Belahyane; Suslov, Kastanos, Lazovic; Tengstedt
Empoli possible starting lineup:
Vasquez; Goglichidze, Ismajli, Viti; Gyasi, Anjorin, Henderson, Maleh, Pezzella; Colombo, Pellegri
We say: Hellas Verona 1-2 Empoli
As evidenced by their shootout success in Florence, Empoli have travelled quite well this season, losing only twice in the league so far.
With some in-form forwards at their disposal, the visitors can deepen Verona's woes by winning at the Bentegodi.
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.
Jonathan O'Shea
