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Sports Mole previews Sunday’s Serie A clash between Torino and Genoa, including predictions, team news and possible lineups.
Buoyed by beating the Italian champions, Torino will welcome winless Genoa to Stadio Olimpico Grande on Sunday.
While Toro toppled Napoli last time out, their ailing visitors are one of four teams still without a Serie A win this season.
Match preview
The defining moment of Torino’s 1-0 victory over the Scudetto holders was slightly strange, as Napoli loanee Giovanni Simeone rounded Toro-owned goalkeeper Vanja Milinkovic-Savic to score the only goal in Turin.
After surviving a late scare, as the VAR ruled out a potential late leveller for the Serie A champions, Marco Baroni‘s men pulled off an impressive feat while pulling themselves further clear of the drop zone.
At home this season, Torino have kept four clean sheets in five matches across all competitions, and the only away team to even score at the Olimpico has been Atalanta BC.
However, the Granata last won back-to-back league games in March, following a dismal end to Paolo Vanoli‘s reign and a slow start to Baroni’s.
The latter’s highlights so far have been reaching the Coppa Italia’s last 16, plus defeating southern giants Roma and Napoli in the league.
History suggests Torino can add to that list this week, as they have lost just one of their last 14 top-flight matches against Genoa – and that dominance is even greater on home turf.
Though the teams have drawn all of their last three league meetings, Genoa’s sole away win in this fixture throughout the whole post-war era dates back to May 2009.
With just one success from 41 attempts, it is fair to say the Grifone tend to wilt when visiting Torino – and recent results do not offer their fans much hope this weekend.
Following a 0-0 draw in last week’s match against Parma, Patrick Vieira‘s side are one of four teams still seeking a Serie A victory as November draws near, representing the club’s worst start since 2017.
It is nearly 50 years since Genoa failed to win any of their first eight top-flight fixtures, so they will want to avoid suffering such a fate on Sunday.
Dating back to last season, Vieira’s men have won just one of their last 14 league games, and they now sit second-bottom of the table with three points on the board.
Thus far, the Rossoblu’s only victories have come in the Coppa Italia – eliminating lower-tier sides Vicenza and Empoli to set up a last-16 clash with Atalanta – so their coach is coming under serious pressure.
Torino Serie A form:
D W L L D W
Torino form (all competitions):
W L W L D W
Genoa Serie A form:
L D L L L D
Genoa form (all competitions):
D L W L L D
Team News
Torino defender Ardian Ismajli has returned to full fitness, so the Albania international should resume his role in a three-man back line, at the expense of versatile midfielder Adrien Tameze.
However, the hosts will still be missing Tino Anjorin, Zakaria Aboukhlal and long-term absentee Perr Schuurs, while wing-back Niels Nkounkou sustained a thigh injury against Napoli.
Paired with Che Adams last week, Simeone has just scored in consecutive games – against his father’s former team Lazio, then his parent club. ‘El Cholito’ will now seek another when meeting his first Serie A side, for whom he notched 12 goals back in 2016-17.
Meanwhile, Genoa will choose between three options to lead their misfiring attack: current incumbent Caleb Ekuban, 18-year-old Jeff Ekhator and AC Milan loanee Lorenzo Colombo.
Ex-Milan man Junior Messias recently returned to the squad, having been sidelined with an adductor problem, while Nicolae Stanciu is close to recovering from a thigh injury.
The latter is set to be assessed in the Grifone’s final training session, so only centre-back Alessandro Marcandalli has been definitively ruled out.
Torino possible starting lineup:
Israel; Ismajli, Maripan, Coco; Pedersen, Casadei, Asllani, Biraghi; Vlasic; Adams, Simeone
Genoa possible starting lineup:
Leali; Norton-Cuffy, Ostigard, Vasquez, Martin; Frendrup, Masini; Ellertsson, Malinovskyi, Vitinha; Ekhator
We say: Torino 1-0 Genoa
Though Torino do not score many goals, Genoa are even more lightweight in the final third – both average under one per game in Serie A.
So, a single strike could separate the sides in Turin, where the hosts are certainly favourites to come out on top.
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.
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