Newly-promoted Monza entertain the challenge of Spezia at the Briante Stadium on Sunday in matchday nine of the 2022-23 Serie A campaign.
The home side are looking to make it three wins on the bounce, while their visitors set out to bounce back from their heaviest defeat of the season last time out.
Match preview
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Buoyed by a narrow win over Juventus just before the international break, Monza made light work of Sampdoria when the two teams went head to head at the Stadio Luigi Ferraris on Sunday.
Raffaele Palladino's men opened the scoring through Matteo Pessina after which Gianluca Caprari and Stefano Sensi put the game to bed with second-half strikes.
Having managed to pick up seven points from their last three matches, I Biancorossi have now risen up to 16th place in the Serie A standings.
Up next is the task of facing off against an opposing outfit yet to lose any of the six previous meetings between the teams between 2001 and 2011.
Off the back of recently ending a three-game losing streak in front of their fans, Sunday's hosts now go in search of consecutive home wins for the first time this term.
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Spezia Calcio were left red-faced in Sunday's encounter versus Lazio at the Stadio Olimpico, which resulted in a humiliating 4-0 defeat.
Goals from Mattia Zaccagni and Alessio Romagnoli left Luca Gotti's men with a mountain to climb at half time before Sergej Milinkovic-Savic netted twice in the second period.
However, The Little Eagles remain 12th in the league table, one point and four places ahead of this weekend's opponents ahead of the clash.
Currently on a four-game losing streak on the road by a combined score of 10-0, Sunday's visitors will be aiming to get going away from home.
Team News
Luca Marrone missed the victory over Sampdoria due to an ankle problem and the 32-year-old is not expected to be back in time for this one.
Marlon was also absent from the aforementioned game through a knee problem, making the defender a major doubt for Sunday's contest.
Andrea Petagna is set to miss a fourth match on the bounce with a muscular injury which should see Dany Mota retain his place in attack.
Spezia's Arkadiusz Reca and Viktor Kovalenko are both down with muscle injuries, while Jacopo Sala also continues his spell on the sidelines.
The visitors are also set to be without the services of Petko Hristov as the defender recently picked up a knee injury while on international duty with Bulgaria.
Monza possible starting lineup:
Di Gregorio; Caldirola, Mari, Izzo; Carlos, Sensi, Rovella, Ciurria; Caprari, Pessina, Mota
Spezia possible starting lineup:
Dragowski; Kiwior, Nikolaou, Caldara, Ampadu, Holm; Bastoni, Bourabia, Ellertsson; Nzola, Gyasi
We say: Monza 2-1 Spezia
Monza look to have got themselves back on track in recent weeks and will head into this weekend's clash as favourites, and while we expect Spezia to provide a stern test, we are backing the home side to get the job done.
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.
Top tip
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