With the second half of the Serie A campaign underway, Carpi will be looking to continue their strong run of form when they host Sampdoria on Sunday afternoon at the Stadio Alberto Braglia.
Carpi currently sit second-to-last in 19th place in the Serie A table, five points from safety while Sampdoria have overcome their November scare and now sit 13th, albeit only two points ahead of 16th place Palermo. Nine points separate the opponents.
The home side are in the midst of a good run of form after a 0-0 draw away to Lazio was followed by an impressive 2-1 victory over Udinese last weekend. Coach Fabrizio Castori will be hoping that his men can carry on their stretch of positive results as they make a push to avoid relegation. The Biancorossi were also in action midweek for their first-ever Coppa Italia quarter-final, a narrow 2-1 loss at the hands of AC Milan.
For the visitors, a hard-fought 2-1 loss to Juventus put an end to their modest two-match winning streak, their only such streak during an overall disappointing campaign for the Genoa-based club. After attaining just a single point from his first four matches in charge, coach Vincenzo Montella appears to have righted the ship and the former Fiorentina boss will be hoping to continue the upward trend.
This is the second-ever meeting between the two sides, the first coming in Carpi’s inaugural top flight fixture which saw Sampdoria win 5-2, despite David Ivan’s dismissal. Sampdoria netted the first five, Fernando scoring after braces from Eder and Luis Muriel, before Andrea Lazzari and Ryder Matos offered the minnows some consolation.
Carpi do not face any suspensions this week but the hosts will be without the services of injured Matteo Fedele, Igor Bubnjic and Matos. Raffaele Bianco returns from a spell on the sidelines. Marco Borriello should make Carpi’s substitutes’ bench despite rumours of a move to one of Canada’s Major League Soccer clubs.
Sampdoria will be without Niklas Moisander for his dismissal at the end of last week’s fixture. Il Doria have only Lorenzo Di Silvestri on the treatment table.
Form Guide: Carpi (D-L-L-D-W) Sampdoria (L-D-W-W-L)
Expected Starting XIs:
Carpi: Belec; Zaccardo, Romagnoli, Gagliolo, Letizia; Pasciuti, Cofie, Bianco, Di Gaudio, Lollo; Mbakogu
Sampdoria: Viviano; Cassani, Silvestre, Zukanovic, Regini; Soriano, Fernando, Barreto; Carbonero, Cassano, Eder
