Sampdoria will be aiming to move further away from the relegation zone when they host out-of-sorts Udinese, who sit just two points above them in the league standings.

Despite showing a great deal of promise upon their return to Serie A, Doriani experienced all sorts of problems this season, which had a lot to do with departure of important players Icardi, Poli, Romero, Munari and Lopez.

And with the club management failing to find proper replacements, coach Delio Rossi was hardly the one to blame for the disappointing start to the season, although hit was him who eventually paid the price for some under-par displays.

Sampdoria indeed showed a lot of improvement under new boss Sinisa Mihajlovic, picking up nine points from five league fixtures, but their good run recently came to an end.

Doriani are now hoping to recover from back to back defeats to Napoli (Serie A) and Roma (Coppa Italia), and they are 2.60 (8/5) to return to winning ways against Udinese.

The hosts have Gaetano Berardi and Pedro Obiang missing through injury and suspension respectively, whilst Vasco Regini faces a fitness test.

Probable starting line-up (4-2-3-1): Da Costa – De Silvestri, Mustafi, Gastaldello, Costa – Palombo, Renan – Soriano, Krsticic, Gabbiadini – Eder.

Udinese are hoping to make the most out of what already looks like a disappointing season, with Serie A survival slowly becoming the main objective.

For the first time after quite a while, Francesco Guidolin was not able to quickly rebuild his squad, although in all fairness, it is not as if the Zebrette are brimming with quality in all areas.

Several good performances in a row against Italy’s top sides did hint that this team have got some potential, although home defeats to Torino and Hellas Verona would suggest otherwise.

And while Udinese won the battle of second-string sides against Inter in Coppa Italia, the Friulani desperately need to improve their league position, and they are priced at 3.10 (21/10) to win at Stadio Luigi Ferraris.

Francesco Guidolin will have a number of first team regulars back after they were rested in midweek, but Muriel and Benussi remain sidelined and Brkic is doubtful.

Probable starting line-up (4-3-2-1): Brkic – Heurtaux, Danilo, Domizzi, Silva – Basta, Allan, Lazzari – Pereyra, Fernandes – Di Natale.