With their Serie A survival still on the line, struggling Sampdoria visit Bologna at Stadio Renato Dall'Ara on Monday evening.
While Samp slipped to an 18th loss of the season last weekend - leaving them 16th in the standings - their mid-table hosts held Milan to a goalless draw last Monday, but have failed to score in any of their past four matches.
Match preview
© Reuters
Having managed just three wins since the winter break, leaving them precariously placed above the drop zone, Sampdoria enter the final seven games of a troubled campaign still needing points to retain their top-flight status.
Edged out 1-0 by Roma last week - with Henrikh Mkhitaryan's first-half strike ultimately deciding the outcome - the Blucerchiati have been beaten in four of their last five matches, yet remain seven points ahead of Genoa (18th) and Venezia (19th).
Samp did come out on top in a crucial encounter with the latter just before last month's international break, which at least improved their prospects of staying afloat, and coach Marco Giampaolo will once again seek his 100th Serie A victory on Monday.
With the former Milan manager's first coming back in 2005, while at Ascoli, he has seen it all before, many times over. Continuing a downturn in his career, though, things have gone far from smoothly since returning to the Marassi dugout, and following a turgid time at Torino he may feel there is much for him to prove.
Giampaolo's current club last won a Serie A fixture at Bologna back in November 2003, and since then there have been seven losses from 12 visits. If his side can end that streak now, it would surely go a long way towards keeping Samp safe this term.
© Reuters
Enjoying total dominance at Dall'Ara in recent years, Bologna have won each of their last six league clashes with Sampdoria; scoring at least two goals on each occasion. Only twice before have the Emilian club recorded a longer streak against any Serie A opponent, and never in the past 80 years.
Indeed, the Rossoblu also left Liguria with all three points when the teams last met in November, as Marko Arnautovic netted a 78th-minute winner in their 2-1 win at Stadio Luigi Ferraris.
However, such memories have faded over the intervening period, as Bologna have recently drifted down the standings to 12th, having not netted a single goal in any of their last four league games.
The last time they failed to score in five straight outings was back in 2011, but with their last goal coming from Arnautovic over 400 minutes of football ago, concern is growing among the Felsinei's fanbase.
Coach Sinisa Mihajlovic watched on from his hospital room as Bologna dug out a determined 0-0 draw with Scudetto-chasing Milan last time out, and with the former Sampdoria player and manager again undergoing treatment for leukaemia, assistant manager Emilio De Leo is charged with taking the reins again on Monday.
As the hosts have only won once in Serie A since late December, their latest visitors could provide the perfect opportunity to pick up a morale-boosting win for their boss.
- W
- D
- D
- L
- L
- D
- W
- L
- L
- L
- W
- L
Team News
© Reuters
With no new injury concerns - only Lorenzo De Silvestri and Kingsley Michael remain sidelined - Bologna could field the same starting XI which lined up against Milan, so Musa Barrow should once again support Marko Arnautovic up front.
Young Boys loanee Michel Aebischer is set to start as part of a midfield trio, but an alternative option would be bringing Roberto Soriano back into the team.
The Italy international made his top flight debut with Sampdoria in 2012 - making 123 appearances and scoring 17 goals in a four-year spell. However, he has failed to score in any of his last 38 league games; last netting in this equivalent fixture, over a year ago.
Sampdoria, meanwhile, are still waiting patiently for Danish star Mikkel Damsgaard to fully recover from a rare form of arthritis in his knee, but Monday's game comes just too soon.
Manolo Gabbiadini and Sebastian Giovinco are both out of action too, but like their hosts, Samp should retain most of the side which started last time out.
Therefore, Nicola Murru is set to keep his place on the left flank ahead of Tommaso Augello, while Stefano Sensi and Abdelhamid Sabiri line up behind nine-goal top scorer Francesco Caputo in attack.
Bologna possible starting lineup:
Skorupski; Soumaoro, Medel, Theate; Hickey, Schouten, Svanberg, Aebischer, Dijks; Barrow, Arnautovic
Sampdoria possible starting lineup:
Audero; Bereszynski, Ferrari, Colley, Murru; Candreva, Rincon, Thorsby; Sensi, Sabiri; Caputo
We say: Bologna 1-1 Sampdoria
In the 100th Serie A meeting between the clubs, neither side stands out as strong favourites due to some lacklustre displays from both in recent weeks.
The last draw in this fixture came back in January 2014, and Samp have not drawn any of their last 12 Serie A games, but the spoils should be shared on this occasion.
Top tip
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 Bologna win with a probability of 50.88%. A win for Sampdoria had a probability of 25.18% and a draw had a probability of 24%.
The most likely scoreline for a Bologna win was 1-0 with a probability of 10.02%. The next most likely scorelines for that outcome were 2-1 (9.65%) and 2-0 (8.55%). The likeliest Sampdoria win was 0-1 (6.63%), while for a drawn scoreline it was 1-1 (11.31%). The actual scoreline of 2-0 was predicted with an 8.6% likelihood. Our data analysis correctly predicted that Bologna would win this match.
