Sampdoria will be looking to bounce back from last weekend's defeat to Juventus when they continue their 2020-21 Serie A campaign at home to Benevento on Saturday night.
The hosts suffered a three-goal loss to the champions in their season opener on September 20, but this contest will be Benevento's first league game of the campaign.
Match preview
© Reuters
Sampdoria were always going to be up against it on the opening weekend of the season, and it proved to be a difficult night for Claudio Ranieri's side as Juve ran out 3-0 winners at the Allianz Stadium.
La Samp finished 15th in Serie A last season, which was actually their lowest position in the table for four seasons, while a total of 20 defeats from 38 matches is their worst ever record at this level of football.
Sampdoria have not been out of Italy's top flight since the 2011-12 campaign but will be wary of making a poor start to this season as they have some tough matches to come in October.
Saturday's clash will actually be just the fourth meeting between these two teams in all competitions; Sampdoria have claimed three victories, but their last game brought a 3-2 success for Benevento in January 2018.
© Reuters
Benevento, meanwhile, secured a return to Serie A courtesy of winning Serie B last term, ultimately finishing 18 points clear of second-place Crotone at the summit.
Filippo Inzaghi's side only lost four of their 38 league matches, recording 26 wins in the process, during a hugely impressive campaign, and they will now be looking to avoid an immediate return to the second tier.
This is Benevento's second season in Serie A, having previously competed in the 2017-18 campaign, where they finished bottom, claiming just 21 points from their 38 matches.
Gli Stregoni are certainly the underdogs heading into this weekend's clash, but they have been relatively busy during this summer's transfer window and will be determined to make a positive start to the season.
Sampdoria Serie A form: L
Benevento pre-season form: WD
Team News
© Reuters
Sampdoria will again be without the services of Vid Belec and Felice D'Amico through injury, while Manolo Gabbiadini could again miss out due to fitness issues.
Fabio Quagliarella was surprisingly named on the bench against Juve last weekend, but the experienced striker should return to the starting XI here, which could mean a change of formation.
The home side will also be able to call upon Kristoffer Askildsen, who was suspended for the opening game of the season following his red card against Brescia at the end of last term.
As for Benevento, there could be a debut at the heart of the defence for Kamil Glik, with the 32-year-old arriving from Monaco over the summer.
The visitors are expected to line up in a 4-4-2 formation on Saturday night, with 19-year-old Giuseppe Di Serio joining Marco Sau in the final third of the field.
Sampdoria possible starting lineup:
Audero; Bereszynski, Tonelli, Colley, Augello; Depaoli, Thorsby, Ekdal, Jankto; Bonazzoli, Quagliarella
Benevento possible starting lineup:
Gori; Maggio, Glik, Barba, Rillo; Insigne, Hetemaj, Schiattarella, Improta; Di Serio, Sau
We say: Sampdoria 1-1 Benevento
Sampdoria will be desperate to bounce back from their opening-weekend defeat, but Benevento should be in a confident mood, and we fancy the visitors to claim a share of the spoils at Stadio Luigi Ferraris.
Top betting tip
Our expert tipster partners at Sporita.com are predicting under 3.5 goals in this match. Click here to find out what else they are predicting for this game and for more of their tried-and-tested football tips.Under 3.5:curl
Matt Law
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 Benevento win with a probability of 37.59%. A win for Sampdoria had a probability of 36.17% and a draw had a probability of 26.2%.
The most likely scoreline for a Benevento win was 0-1 with a probability of 9.62%. The next most likely scorelines for that outcome were 1-2 (8.28%) and 0-2 (6.38%). The likeliest Sampdoria win was 1-0 (9.4%), while for a drawn scoreline it was 1-1 (12.47%). The actual scoreline of 2-3 was predicted with a 2.4% likelihood. Our data analysis correctly predicted that Benevento would win this match.
