Torino travel to Hellas Verona this Sunday as they attempt to hold onto a place near the top of the Serie A table with their third win in as many matches.
Though they have earned all of the six points available to them, Il Toro have done so in difficult fashion, going behind in matches against newly promoted Frosinone and Fiorentina. It took quick fire second-half goals in both games to achieve the hard-fought victories.
As for the home side, they earned an impressive point against Roma on the opening day of the season, but then failed to capitalise on this result, losing 2-0 to Genoa on the road the following week.
The two sides were promoted a year apart, in 2012 and 2013 respectively, with Torino holding the slight edge in their head-to-head record in recent meetings, recording two wins, one loss and a draw.
In terms of tactics, Verona’s defensive woes last season consistently threatened to undue them entirely, so a credible performance by the back-four against Serie A favourites Roma in the first week of the season was seen as an encouraging sign.
Unfortunately for the Gialloblu, their defence could not maintain that momentum and they conceded two poor at Genoa, which has left them loitering in 15th place.
The home side will be hoping that a return to Stadio Marc’Antonio Bentegodi might inspire the same kind of resolute performance that they previously shown against the Giallorossi.
An interesting feature of the match will be to see how the Gialloblu deal with the Il Toro’s impressive pressing game and at-times explosive attack.
Fabio Quagliarella and Daniele Baselli will be aiming to continue their goal streaks for Torino after both players scored in each of the club’s two matches so far this season.
Verona coach Andrea Mandorlini will not be without his own weapons as highly rated midfielder Romulo, so impressive in the 2013-14 season after making the move to Verona from Fiorentina, is expected to make his return debut after an injury-mired season spent on loan to Juventus.
Both sides will be lacking players due to injury, with Hellas Verona’s Artur Ionita, Filip Helander and Mohamed Fares all still recovering from injuries that have kept them out since the beginning of the season.
Torino will be without new signing from Inter Joel Obi while Alexander Farnerud is still dealing with a cruciate ligament rupture that has ruled him out since the concluding games of the 2014-15 season.
Form Guide: Verona (D-L), Torino (W-W)
Expected Startings XIs
Verona (4-3-3): Rafael – Pisano, Marquez, Moras, Souprayen – Romulo, Greco, Hallfredsson – Jankovic, Toni, Gomez
Torino (3-5-2): Padelli – Maksimovic, Gilk, Moretti – Avelar, Baselli, Vives, Acquah, Peres – Quagliarella, Maxi Lopez
