Sampdoria will be aiming to continue their strong run of form when they play host to relegation-threatened Genoa in Serie A on Wednesday evening.
Both sides enjoyed victories at the weekend, with Sampdoria overcoming Parma 3-2 while Genoa picked up a vital three points in a 2-1 win at home to Lecce.
Match preview
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Sampdoria have been on a tremendous run of form in July and have now enjoyed five victories from their last six in the Italian top flight.
Claudio Ranieri's men went into half time against Parma 2-0 down, but an inspired comeback by Sampdoria saw them walk away from the Stadio Ennio Tardini with all three points to lift them further away from the bottom three.
Any fears of relegation for Ranieri's side have been quashed as I Blucerchiati sit 13th in the table on 41 points - 12 above the relegation zone with just four games remaining.
Following victories over Udinese and Cagliari prior to the win over Parma, Sampdoria have now recorded three victories on the bounce for the first time this term, and should their performances continue in the same manner in the final two weeks of the season, there is every reason for the Blucerchiati faithful to look ahead to the 2020-21 campaign with a great deal of optimism.
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Likewise, Genoa can also feel more positive about their Serie A prospects as they picked up a crucial three points over fellow relegation candidates Lecce on Sunday.
However, Genoa's victory was more down to a huge stroke of luck than anything else, as Filip Jagiello's curling effort ten minutes from time cannoned off the post before trickling in off the back of Lecce goalkeeper Gabriel.
Davide Nicola will certainly not be giving any thought to the manner of his side's victory, though, as every result in the relegation dogfight is significant at this very late stage of the campaign.
Il Grifone's only two victories since the restart have come against sides below them in the table, with a 3-0 defeat to Torino sandwiched in between wins over Lecce and already-relegated SPAL.
Nicola's men must take on high-flying sides in Inter Milan and Sassuolo following their trip to an equally impressive Sampdoria outfit, so the Genoa faithful will be hoping that 18th-placed Lecce fail to reduce the four-point gap between the two clubs in these final few fixtures.
Sampdoria Serie A form: WWLWWW
Genoa Serie A form: LDLWLW
Team News
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Aside from long-term absentee Alex Ferrari, who continues to recover from a cruciate ligament rupture, Sampdoria have no major injury concerns heading into the midweek clash with Genoa.
Lorenzo Tonelli was fit enough to make the bench against Parma, but Julian Chabot is expected to keep his place in defence following his goal at the weekend.
Veteran striker Fabio Quagliarella took his league tally to 11 for the season in the victory at Parma, although the 37-year-old looks set to relinquish his 2018-19 Capocannoniere title to either Ciro Immobile or Cristiano Ronaldo.
Genoa also boast a relatively clean bill of health prior to Wednesday's showdown, with the only concern for Nicola being the knee injury keeping Ivan Radovanovic on the treatment table.
Nicola opted for a 4-4-2 system against Lecce which ended up paying dividends for his side, but the Genoa manager may switch it up here to try and contain a strong Sampdoria side.
Sampdoria possible starting lineup:
Audero; Depaoli, Chabot, Colley, Augello; Linetty, Ekdal, Thorsby, Jankto; Quagliarella, Bonazzoli
Genoa possible starting lineup:
Perin; Romero, Soumaro, Zapata; Ghiglione, Schone, Jagiello, Behrami, Criscito; Pinamonti, Sanabria
We say: Sampdoria 3-1 Genoa
Even though Genoa have now enjoyed two victories from their last three, those triumphs were over fellow relegation candidates and they were incredibly fortunate to take the spoils against Lecce. Nicola's men have struggled against the sides above them and Sampdoria are performing well at the minute, so we are going for a comfortable home victory.
Ben Knapton
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 Sampdoria win with a probability of 47.58%. A win for Genoa had a probability of 28.23% and a draw had a probability of 24.2%.
The most likely scoreline for a Sampdoria win was 2-1 with a probability of 9.43%. The next most likely scorelines for that outcome were 1-0 (9.25%) and 2-0 (7.69%). The likeliest Genoa win was 1-2 (6.96%), while for a drawn scoreline it was 1-1 (11.34%). The actual scoreline of 1-2 was predicted with a 7% likelihood.
