Champions League chasing Sampdoria welcome Udinese to the Stadio Luigi Ferraris with the intention of taking control of third place in Serie A on Sunday afternoon.
Their visitors may not be in top condition, but Udinese are still very much in the hunt for the European places up for grabs.
The Blucerchiati need to break away from the pack that is forming in the wake of Juventus and Roma’s two horse race for the title. Coach Sinisa Mihajlovic’s side are in fourth place currently, sandwiched between Lazio and Genoa on 26 points with third offering a route into Europe’s premier competition.
Mid-table Udinese may have faltered since winning four of their opening five league matches, but if coach Andrea Stramaccioni’s team can rediscover their early season form a European berth is still very much within their reach. However, they will have to improve a run of one win in seven.
That sole recent success came on their last road trip, allowing Stramaccioni to achieve some catharsis during a 2-1 victory over former employers Inter. The Bianconeri failed to build any momentum when Luca Toni’s 300th professional goal cancelled out 37-year-old Antonio Di Natale’s opener before Lazaros Christodoulopoulos won it for Hellas Verona.
Sampdoria will have been boosted by holding Italian champions Juventus to a 1-1 draw but Mihajlovic will be concerned at the amount of draws. While the Blucerchiati have only lost once in 16 league matches, four of their eight stalemates this campaign have come in the past five fixtures.
Injury continues to rob il Doria of Lorenzo De Silvestri and Matias Silvestre while Gabbiadini’s three goals in his last three appearances won’t be rewarded with a place in the starting eleven. Mihajlovic preference for a front two of Stefano Okaka and Eder will see the scoring substitute against Juventus on the bench.
Cyril Thereau scored his fifth of the season with the winner against Inter but the Frenchman looks to continue to warm the bench with exciting talent Bruno Fernandes again asked to support Di Natale.
The last meeting between the pair produced a 3-3 draw with Di Natale scoring a hat trick that day; he has seven goals in his last five appearance against Sampdoria. However, Udinese’s last visit to the Luigi Ferraris saw a comfortable 3-0 win for the hosts and three red cards.
With the previous 12 meetings having averaged just over three goals a game, it promises to be an entertaining affair in Genoa come 15.00 on Sunday.
Expected Starting XIs
Sampdoria: Romero, Cacciatore, Gastaldello, Romagnoli, Regini, Obiang, Palombo, Rizzo, Soriano, Eder, Okaka.
Udinese: Karnezis, Heurtaux, Danilo, Domizzi, Widmer, Guilherme, Allan, Badu, Pasquale, B. Fernandes, Di Natale.
