Hellas Verona vs. Cagliari

Sports Mole previews Sunday’s Serie A clash between Hellas Verona and Cagliari, including predictions, team news and possible lineups.

One of four winless teams in Serie A, Hellas Verona welcome Cagliari to Stadio Marcantonio Bentegodi, aiming to secure their first league victory in Sunday’s eighth round.

Winless at the Bentegodi since February, the Mastiffs have failed to win in nine matches in Veneto, and the league’s lowest scorers face another challenge this weekend against a team that defeated them in both meetings last season.

Match previewNeither Verona nor Cagliari are in good form heading into Sunday’s top-flight match, but the hosts are struggling significantly more.

Paolo Zanetti’s team are the league’s lowest scorers with just two goals from seven matches, although the poor starts by Fiorentina, Genoa and Pisa mean they sit above those clubs in 18th, 19th and 20th place by just a point ahead of this weekend’s matches. 

Standing out in Veneto is the Mastiffs’ ongoing failure to secure results at the Bentegodi, where they have not won since beating Fiorentina 1-0 in late February.

Since that victory, the Gialloblu have played nine matches, drawing six and losing three; the most notable statistic is that the team have failed to score in five of those games in front of their home supporters.

Only Gift Orban has found the net at the Bentegodi for the 17th-placed side this season — a penalty in a respectable 1-1 draw with Juventus — emphasising another point: Verona’s last open-play goal in Serie A at the Bentegodi was back in May.

Cagliari enter this weekend aware of their hosts’ struggles, even though the Sardinians have not been performing well either, having lost twice to Inter Milan and Bologna, sandwiching a 1-1 draw with Udinese.

However, Fabio Pisacane’s team have secured four points from their past two away games, beating Lecce 2-1 and playing out a low-scoring draw in Udine after holding out against Napoli until the final moments before losing 1-0 in Naples.

As a result of their encouraging away performances, Cagliari head into gameweek eight hoping to continue playing as well as before to extend their winning streak over Verona.

Both meetings last season ended in wins for the Sardinians, who scored three goals across two matches without reply, turning around a six-match winless streak against the Mastini.

Now aiming to secure three consecutive Serie A wins over Verona for the first time since May 1971 to January 1972, Pisacane’s team will hope their hosts remain goal-shy on Sunday while seeking their third victory of the season to move up from 13th place.

Hellas Verona Serie A form:

Hellas Verona form (all competitions):

Cagliari Serie A form:

Cagliari form (all competitions):

Team News

Verona are likely to navigate this weekend without the injured Tomas Suslov (knee), Armel Bella-Kotchap (thigh), Daniel Oyegoke and Mutassim Al-Musrati (thigh).

Apart from Orban, only Suat Serdar has scored for the Mastini this season, highlighting their struggles in front of goal.

Victor Nelsson has played every minute for Verona this season, and the centre-back is expected to start on Sunday to maintain his run.

While Yerry Mina is doubtful for gameweek eight having gone off injured in the 2-0 loss to Bologna last weekend, the definitely sidelined players are Andrea Belotti (knee), Alessandro Di Pardo, Boris Radunovic and Nicola Pintus.

Given that only Belotti had scored more than one goal for the Sardinians before last month’s likely season-ending knee injury, the Sardinians need to find attacking solutions moving forward.

Sebastiano Esposito, in theory, offers the necessary goal threat, having scored eight times for Empoli last season, and the onus is on the Inter loanee to take on additional responsibility.

Hellas Verona possible starting lineup:

Montipo; Nunez, Nelson, Valentine; Cham, Serdar, Gagliardini, Bernede, Frees; Giovane, Orban

Cagliari possible starting lineup:

Caprile; Zappa, Mina, Luperto; Palestra, Adopo, Prati, Folorunsho, Obert; Esposito, Borrelli

We say: Hellas Verona 0-1 CagliariGiven Verona’s tendency to draw games at the Bentegodi, another stalemate this weekend would not be surprising. 

However, Cagliari have demonstrated some resilience on their travels this season, and we will stick our necks out and back the Sardinians to score the decisive goal and secure maximum points.

For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.

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