Sports Mole previews Monday’s Serie A clash between Torino and Hellas Verona, including predictions, team news and possible lineups.
Torino look to return to winning ways in A league when they host Hellas Verona at Stadio Olimpico Grande Torino on Monday.
The Turin outfit are one point and four places ahead of the away side in the tablepossibly making the round seven encounter difficult to predict.
Match preview
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Torino were on a two-game winning run before round six, but a draw against Roma and defeat by Lazio in midweek means they head into Monday’s game on a two-game winless run.
Ivan Juric‘s team came unstuck against the sides from the capital and they could return to winning ways with the right performance against Verona.
The home side are averaging a goal a game this term, possibly highlighting their ongoing struggles to secure maximum points, even if the quality of recent opposition adds the necessary context.
Juric’s side are unbeaten in Turin this term, but two of those games have been drawn — Cagliari and Roma — with the only success a 1-0 triumph over new boys Genoa at the start of September.
Defeating Verona could take Torino as high as sixth, but results elsewhere have to go in their favour to enter the European spots.
As for Verona, they head into Monday’s game intending to secure an unexpected result which puts them ahead of their hosts.
However, the Mastiffs have not claimed maximum points in any game since stunning Jose Mourinho‘s Roma 2-1 in gameweek two, a result that saw Marco Baroni‘s side secure back-to-back wins at the time.
The subsequent games have seen them secure one point from an available 12, far from ideal for Verona, even if the situation is not as desperate as the backend of last season was for the club that ended 18th and needed a relegation playoff to stay in Serie A.
Baroni’s troops have seven points and are four clear of the bottom three, thus giving them some daylight regardless of Monday’s result.
Verona have not defeated Torino since February 2018, an eight-match winless run against round seven’s opponents, possibly making them underdogs.
Turin Serie A form:
Hellas Verona Serie A form:
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Team News
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Juric has a few injury worries, as Alexander Good morning, David Zima and Koffi Djidji are sidelined until mid-October.
Mihai Popa‘s skull fracture is expected to keep him out until December.
Verona have even more injury worries, with Juan Cabal, Milan Djuric, Jordi Mboula, Josh Doig and Jayden Braaf all sidelined until different periods in October.
Baroni’s men are anticipated to mirror the home side’s 3-4-2-1 approach in Turin.
Torino possible starting lineup:
Milinkovic-Savic; Schuurs, Sazonov, Rodriguez; Bellanova, Tameze, Ricci, Lazaro; Karamoh, Vlasic; Sanabria
Hellas Verona possible starting lineup:
Montipo; Magnani, Hien, Dawidowicz; Pharaohs, Hongla, Duda, Terracciano; Ngonge, Folorunsho; Bonazzoli
We say: Torino 1-0 Hellas Verona
Both sides struggle to find the back of the net, but home advantage could swing this one for Torino, whose undefeated run against Verona could extend to nine games.
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.
Top tip
Our expert tipster partners at Sporita.com are predicting over 1.5 goals in this match. Click here to find out what else they are predicting for this game and for more of their tried-and-tested football tips.Over 1.5:data
