As the only Serie A team yet to claim a single point so far this season, basement club Salernitana will be hoping that their fortunes can turn at home against Hellas Verona on Wednesday evening.
The two sides have never faced each other in the Italian top flight, though they have locked horns on 38 occasions in Serie B, with Verona winning 16 of those meetings.
Match preview
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Competing in their first Serie A campaign in 22 years, Salernitana have yet to adapt to Italian top-flight football, after losing each of their opening four matches, conceding 11 goals in the process.
Their most recent defeat, however, was only by a one-goal margin when Atalanta came away from the Stadio Arechi with a slender 1-0 victory, after Duvan Zapata scored the only goal in the 75th minute.
Despite losing, Fabrizio Castori will have taken positives from last weekend's game, as they at least showed more resilience from a defensive perspective against one of the league's strongest sides.
Salernitana will now be looking ahead at a run of six league fixtures where they will not face any of last season's top seven.
The Garnets, who are yet to find the back of the net at the Stadio Arechi so far this campaign, have scored once in each of their last five home encounters against Verona, but they have won only one of their last 10 league meetings against them, a narrow 1-0 victory in September 2018.
Salernitana will be keen to avoid becoming the second Serie A team in the last 10 years – after Benevento in 2017-18 – to lose each of their first five matches.
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Eusebio Di Francesco became the first managerial casualty of any club in Europe's top five leagues this season after just three games and 100 days in charge of Hellas Verona.
The former Roma head coach – who led the Giallorossi to the Champions League semi-finals in 2017-18 – was relieved of his duties after losing each of his first three league games without scoring.
His successor, Igor Tudor, has had an instant impact with the Gialloblu, guiding his new side to an impressive 3-2 victory at home against Jose Mourinho's Roma last weekend.
A brilliant 20-yard volley from right wing-back Marco Faraoni in the 63rd minute proved decisive for the hosts, ending the visitors' 100% start to the new season.
Tudor's men now turn their attention to their next match away against Salernitana, where they have failed to win in each of their last four visits.
Considering the hosts have yet to hit the ground running so far this campaign, Verona should be confident of claiming their second successive Serie A victory, something they have not achieved since September 2020.
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Team News
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Salernitana will be without Ramzi Aya (muscle fatigue), Frederic Veseli (knee), Matteo Ruggeri (hamstring) and Leonardo Capezzi (knee) due to injury.
Nigerian forward Simy could be handed a start in attack ahead of Cedric Gondo, while veteran Franck Ribery is expected to start again in the number 10 role.
Castori is expected to stick with a 3-4-1-2 formation, which will likely see Norbert Gyomber, Stefan Strandberg and Riccardo Gagliolo start at centre-back.
As for Verona, they will be without Miguel Veloso (thigh), Gianluca Frabotta (calf), Bosko Sutalo (Achilles) and Kevin Ruegg (muscle) due to injury.
Tudor is not expected to make too many changes to his starting lineup, however centre-back Giangiacomo Magnani could be brought in at the expense of Federico Ceccherini.
Daniel Bessa and Ivan Ilic could keep their places in central midfield, though the likes of Adrien Tameze and Martin Hongla will be looking to force their way into the first XI.
Salernitana possible starting lineup:
Belec; Gyomber, Strandberg, Gagliolo; Kechrida, M. Coulibaly, L. Coulibaly, Ranieri; Ribery; Djuric, Simy
Hellas Verona possible starting lineup:
Montipo; Dawidowicz, Gunter, Magnani; Faraoni, Bessa, Ilic, Lazovic; Barak, Caprari; Simeone
We say: Salernitana 1-2 Hellas Verona
Both Salernitana and Verona will view this fixture as a winnable game, with the hosts desperate to get off the mark as a top-flight club.
The visitors, however, will be the favourites on Wednesday, and after securing an impressive win last weekend, we can see them taking their momentum to the Stadio Arechi and securing all three points.
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 Hellas Verona win with a probability of 39.96%. A win for Salernitana had a probability of 33.15% and a draw had a probability of 26.9%.
The most likely scoreline for a Hellas Verona win was 0-1 with a probability of 10.81%. The next most likely scorelines for that outcome were 1-2 (8.45%) and 0-2 (7.16%). The likeliest Salernitana win was 1-0 (9.65%), while for a drawn scoreline it was 1-1 (12.77%). The actual scoreline of 2-2 was predicted with a 5% likelihood.
