Prediction: Sampdoria vs Roma

Verdict: Away win

Best odds: 8/11

Bookmaker: Unibet

On Monday afternoon, Sampdoria will be welcoming AS Roma to the Luigi Ferraris stadium in Genoa for a battle within the 10th round of the Serie A roller coaster, an important one for both sides, but also a meeting between two old friends in the two dugouts.

Sampdoria

The big news involving Sampdoria these days is still, of course, the sacking of Marco Giampaolo earlier this month after an extremely poor start to the season and the appointment for former Red Star Belgrade boss Dejan Stankovic.

Stankovic knows football in Italy as well as anyone, having spent 15 years playing for Lazio and Inter Milan. What’s more, he was a key player for the Nerazzurri in 2009/10, when they won the historic treble under the current Roma boss, Jose Mourinho. The meeting between them will surely be warm and friendly, though it’s safe to say all emotion will be put aside for 90 minutes as their teams have a go at each other.

For Sampdoria, each game has become a matter of life and death as they struggle to survive in the Italian top flight. After nine matches played, they only have three points to their name and are nailed to the floor, with only Cremonese on the same tally. Hellas Verona in 18th place have five, while Bologna and Lecce sit just above the red line with seven.

Sampdoria are yet to win a game this term. Two of the three points they have at the moment were won in the matches bookending their last-six run, a 1-1 draw at home against Lazio and a 1-1 draw away to Bologna. In between, they were beaten 1-2 at home by AC Milan, 2-1 away to Spezia, and most embarrassingly, 0-3 at home against Monza.

Team News

Tottenham Hotspur loanee Harry Winks has recovered from injury and returned to team training, but this match comes too soon for him to be involved. Defender Jeison Murillo is also out, having picked up a hamstring issue which will keep him out until after the World Cup.

Alex Ferrari is likely to take Murillo’s place alongside Omar Colley in the heart of defence, flanked by Bartosz Bereszynski and Tommaso Augello. Thomas Rincon and Ronaldo Vieira should be tasked with holding the fort in the middle of the park.

Filip Djuricic scored the equalizer against Bologna and Stankovic is sure to give his compatriot a start in some attack-supporting position, probably alongside Abdelhamid Sabiri and Manolo Gabbiadini, behind Francesco Caputo as the focal point upfront.

AS Roma

Roma aren’t exactly where they want to be – in the top four – yet, but they aren’t too far away either. With 19 points from nine matches, they are sixth, just one point behind Milan in fifth, Udinese in fourth, and city rivals Lazio in third. They should, however, be looking to add something from this game to get away from Inter Milan, who have just beaten Salernitana and reached the tally of 18 in seventh place.

Mourinho’s team has shown mixed form in recent matches. Their last-six run consists of a 3-0 win at home over HJK in the Europa League, a 0-1 defeat at home at the hands of Atalanta, a 1-2 win away to Inter, a 1-2 home defeat to Real Betis, a 2-1 win at home over Lecce, and a 1-1 draw against Betis in Spain.

Speaking to the press after the clash in Sevilla, Mourinho said the pair of Andrea Belotti and Tammy Abraham played poorly in the first half but reacted very well to his ‘talking-to’ during the break, putting in a much better performance in the second 45 minutes, which brought about the Belotti equalizer and rescued a vital point.

Team News

However, Mourinho also revealed that forward Paulo Dybala suffered a ‘bad’ injury in the win over Lecce. The Argentinian left the pitch with a muscle problem right after scoring the winning goal from the spot in the 48th minute, and it seems he faces a difficult race against time to be fit for the upcoming tournament in Qatar.

With Dybala out, Mourinho will likely deploy captain Lorenzo Pellegrini closer to the opposition goal, supporting Belotti and Abraham upfront.

Nemanja Matic and Bryan Cristante should pair up in the middle, flanked by Leonardo Spinazzola and Nicola Zalewski as the wing-backs. At the back, Gianluca Mancini should be joined by Chris Smalling and Roger Ibanez.

Conclusion

Stankovic could easily prove the right man to lead Sampdoria through their time of crisis and he probably knows well enough how the mind of Mourinho works, but his team isn’t very likely to gel in properly so quickly, and Roma, having the greater quality, will seek to take advantage.

Verdict: Away win

Best odds: 8/11

Bookmaker: Unibet