Hellas Verona head into their Serie A encounter with Sampdoria on Wednesday evening hoping to move within one point of the top-four with a victory.
Sampdoria, meanwhile, have lost four of their last six league matches and have failed to keep a clean sheet since October.
Match preview
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Hellas Verona pulled off another impressive away result after beating Lazio 2-1 on Saturday thanks to an own goal by Manuel Lazzari and a strike from Adrien Tameze.
From their last four away matches, Ivan Juric's side have picked up eight points from a possible 12 available against four of last season's top-six clubs – Juventus, AC Milan, Atalanta and most recently Lazio.
I Gialloblu have also lost just two of their 11 games in Serie A – winning five and drawing the other four – which has been their best start to a top-flight campaign since their Scudetto season in 1984-85.
One stand-out player for Verona has been goalkeeper Marco Silvestri. The former Leeds United stopper has kept four clean sheets, a feat which only three other Serie A goalkeepers have managed to achieve so far this campaign.
Silvestri has performed well for Juric's side in recent seasons having recorded a save percentage of 75.4% within the last two seasons, a stat only bettered by Atletico Madrid's Jan Oblak and Real Madrid's Thibaut Courtois in Europe's top-five leagues.
Verona are gaining confidence game-by-game and their good run of form has moved them up to seventh in Serie A, eight points behind league leaders AC Milan.
Juric's men, who claimed three points in last season's 2-0 win against Sampdoria, could record back-to-back victories against the Blucerchiati in Serie A for the first time since November 1975 with a win on Wednesday night.
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Sampdoria's slide down the Serie A table continued on Sunday as they suffered their sixth defeat of the season, losing 2-1 away to Napoli.
A run of six matches without a win has seen the Blucerchiati drop to 13th in the table, five points above the relegation zone, having accumulated only 11 points from as many matches.
Claudio Ranieri's men have looked weaker defensively in recent weeks, conceding exactly two goals in each of their last five Serie A games. The last time Sampdoria conceded two or more goals in six consecutive matches was back in February 2016.
Sampdoria may look to experienced midfielder Antonio Candreva for inspiration on Wednesday night. The 33-year-old has scored three goals and provided three assists in nine Serie A meetings against Verona, including a strike for Inter Milan in July of this year.
A victory for the visitors would be their fourth league triumph of the season and could move Ranieri's side back into the top half of the table.
Hellas Verona Serie A form: WDLWDW
Hellas Verona form (all competitions): DLLWDW
Sampdoria Serie A form: DLLDLL
Sampdoria form (all competitions): LLLDLL
Team News
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Ivan Juric's Verona are still likely to be without striker Nikola Kalinic and midfielder Ronaldo Vieira, but Marco Benassi could be set to return from a calf injury.
Defender Federico Ceccherini is back from suspension and could replace Giangiacomo Magnani in the starting lineup.
Attacking midfielders Antonin Barak and Mattia Zaccagni are set to keep their places in support of lone striker Samuel Di Carmine.
Sampdoria duo Bartosz Bereszynski and Keita Balde are both ruled out with muscle injuries.
Defender Lorenzo Tonelli, who was an unused substitute against Napoli, could return to the starting lineup at the expense of Gambian international Omar Colley.
Hellas Verona possible starting lineup:
Silvestri; Ceccherini, Dawidowicz, Lovato; Faraoni, Tameze, Ilic, Dimarco; Zaccagni, Barak; Di Carmine
Sampdoria possible starting lineup:
Audero; Ferrari, Yoshida, Tonelli, Augello; Candreva, Thorsby, Ekdal, Damsgaard; Ramirez; Quagliarella
We say: Hellas Verona 2-0 Sampdoria
Verona have proved this campaign that they are a strong Italian outfit who are looking towards the top end of the table with the hope of moving into the top four. Sampdoria, meanwhile, need to pick up points if they are to move clear of the Serie A drop zone. The home side, who are in good form, should have enough quality to secure the three points.
Top betting tip
Oliver Thomas
Data Analysis
Our analysis of all available data, including recent performances and player stats up until an hour before kickoff, suggested the most likely outcome of this match was a Hellas Verona win with a probability of 44.72%. A win for Sampdoria had a probability of 31.29% and a draw had a probability of 24%.
The most likely scoreline for a Hellas Verona win was 2-1 with a probability of 9.16%. The next most likely scorelines for that outcome were 1-0 (8.22%) and 2-0 (6.8%). The likeliest Sampdoria win was 1-2 (7.47%), while for a drawn scoreline it was 1-1 (11.07%). The actual scoreline of 1-2 was predicted with a 7.5% likelihood.
