Sampdoria will be hoping to find their first win in three as they play host to struggling Cesena who seemed doomed to return to Serie B.
The match-up seems rather one-sided, with the home team battling for a place in Europe whilst the latter wishes to simply remain in the league.
Sampdoria have been on a mini blip of late however, losing to European rivals Fiorentina and drawing 1-1 with Filippo Inzaghi’s AC Milan.
Things are far from rosy with Cesena either – they sit seven points adrift of safety with only eight games remaining.
It has been an odd little downturn in fortunes for Sinisa Mihajlovic’s side, considering they had gone on a five game winning run prior to their recent disappointments.
A ever present 4-3-3 formation that has done them proud, was altered for the two recent games to a 4-2-3-1 with the attackers only finding the net only once in the past two matches.
Mihajlovic will likely alter his backline to include regular Vasco Regini over Djamel Mesbah and in terms of men up front, Luis Muriel could replace Stefano Okaka.
Domenico Di Carlo, coach of Cesena, returns to the club he managed back in 2011 and will be looking to try and change the fortunes of the struggling Seahorses. Goals have been a problem for the away side and they face a team who have conceded just over 30 goals for the season, the fourth best in the league.
Their only away success was a 2-1 victory over bottom club Parma but top-scorer Franco Brienza is fit enough to play and will prove vital if they are to walk away with a victory.
Form Guide: Sampdoria (D-L-W-W-W) Cesena (L-D-L-D-D)
Expected Starting XIs
Sampdoria: Viviano; De Silvestri, Silvestre, Romagnoli, Regini; Soriano, Palombo, Obiang; Eder, Eto’o, Muriel
Cesena: Leali; Perico, Capelli, Krajnc, Nica; Cascione, Mudingayi, Giorgi; Brienza; Defrel, Succi
