Toiling Torino are in desperate need of points from the Monday night visit of Sampdoria after their disastrous defeat to Inter Milan last week.
Stuck in the Serie A drop zone, the Granata lost 4-2 after going two goals ahead at San Siro, while Samp have now gone four games without a win in all competitions following successive losses during the past week.
Match preview
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Claudio Ranieri's side sit 10th in Serie A ahead of this encounter with Marco Giampaolo's men but have not won a Serie A game since their unlikely 3-1 triumph against Atalanta in late October.
This month, since drawing the Derby della Lanterna, the Blucerchiati have lost league games to Cagliari and Bologna either side of the international break before crashing out of the Coppa Italia in a derby re-match with their city rivals last week.
Though Sampdoria had the stronger start and rattled Federico Marchetti's crossbar in the opening minutes, Genoa's in-form striker Gianluca Scamacca scored two and created another as the 'away' side fought back to win at the Marassi.
Last season Samp were in last place and with only four points at this stage of the season, a situation which ultimately led to Ranieri replacing Eusebio Di Francesco in the dugout. However, their relatively impressive start to 2020-21 has faded and, despite the impressive input of Norway midfielder Morten Thorsby and full-back Tommaso Augello so far, their recent trend has been downward one.
Some hope of a positive result this week can be drawn from both their opponents similarly woeful form and recent precedent, as Sampdoria have scored in each of their last nine league games against Torino - only against Fiorentina are they on a longer such streak.
The Blucerchiati may also have won their last Serie A away match at Torino but they have collected two consecutive wins there just once before in the top flight - between 1959 and 1960.
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Former Samp coach Marco Giampaolo - who has been absent due to COVID-19 infection of late - is under tremendous pressure as he takes on the club at which he fared so well before his managerial career started sliding off the rails last year.
He inherited a defensively suspect side in August but has made little progress since, as Torino are now winless in their last six Serie A home fixtures - picking up a measly two points from draws against Hellas Verona and Crotone. Only five times in their once-illustrious history have the Granata been on a longer such run - with four of those coming before 1960 and the most recent in 2003.
Not only that, but Torino have already conceded 20 Serie A goals this season - the most they've conceded after nine matches since 1958-59.
Setting such records was not what the Toro hierarchy had in mind when appointing ex-Milan manager Giampaolo in the summer, so something must surely give if he cannot inspire his charges to earn points from Monday's encounter and the upcoming visit of Udinese, either side of the seemingly unwinnable Derby della Mole with Juventus.
Last Thursday brought some relief from their league travails for Torino, as they swept aside Serie B side Virtus Entella in the Coppa Italia to book a last-16 meeting with Milan.
There is also some comfort to be gleaned from studying opponents Sampdoria's record on the road. They have conceded at least one goal in each of their last 14 away league matches - and 26 in total.
Torino's star forward Andrea Belotti particularly enjoys taking them on too, as the Azzurri striker has scored seven Serie A goals against Samp - the only team against which he has scored three league braces. His boss Giampaolo will pray for more of the same at the start of what could be a make-or-break period for his club - and possibly his future career.
Torino Serie A form: LDLWDL
Torino form (all competitions): WLLDLW
Sampdoria Serie A form: WWWDLL
Sampdoria form (all competitions): WWDLLL
Team News
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Former Valencia forward Simone Zaza stepped in amid an injury and illness crisis that took out Torino's star men Andrea Belotti, who missed last week due to a knee injury, Sasa Lukic and Simone Verdi at various times and should start alongside Belotti up front.
Lukic, Amer Gojak, Mergim Vojvoda and Samir Ujkani are absent as they continue to self-isolate, as does under-fire coach Marco Giampaolo, who will stick to a 3-5-2 setup.
The visitors' main goal threat Fabio Quagliarella missed Sampdoria's midweek derby defeat with a thigh injury and is still a doubt for Monday's game, while fellow forward Keita Balde remains out of action.
Manolo Gabbiadini is fit enough to make the bench, as impressive midfield pair Albin Ekdal and Morten Thorsby are set to start behind hit-and-miss Gaston Ramirez and Quagliarella up front.
Torino possible starting lineup:
Sirigu; Bremer, Nkoulou, Lyanco; Singo, Meite, Rincon, Linetty, Ansaldi; Belotti, Zaza
Sampdoria possible starting lineup:
Audero; Bereszynski, Yoshida, Tonelli, Augello; Candreva, Thorsby, Ekdal, Jankto; Ramirez, Quagliarella
We say: Torino 1-1 Sampdoria
The Granata's express train start against Inter hit the buffers late on, as has happened too many times during this troubled year. A similar display is required over the full 90 minutes against faltering Sampdoria on Monday.
Claudio Ranieri's side, though, can take advantage of the hosts' brittle confidence to earn a valuable point on the road and keep their opponents' heads below water.
Top betting tip
Jonathan O'Shea
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 Torino win with a probability of 41.68%. A win for Sampdoria had a probability of 34.62% and a draw had a probability of 23.7%.
The most likely scoreline for a Torino win was 2-1 with a probability of 8.8%. The next most likely scorelines for that outcome were 1-0 (7.26%) and 2-0 (5.96%). The likeliest Sampdoria win was 1-2 (7.92%), while for a drawn scoreline it was 1-1 (10.72%). The actual scoreline of 2-2 was predicted with a 6.5% likelihood.
