Bologna vs Genoa

May 18, 2013
By: Nemanja Lazarevic

Having finally managed to end the dismal run of results by beating Parma away, Bologna are looking to end the season on a high by beating Genoa at Renato Dall’Ara. The Rossoblu are on a six-match unbeaten run that saw them clinch Serie A survival and they arrive in Bologna without a worry on their mind.

Back to winning ways

With the team doing well to avoid the relegation tussle alltogether, club chiefs can be satisfied with the outcome of the current season, although they would have liked to have finished the league campaign in the top half of the standings. A top table finish appeared on the cards while Felsinei were on a three-match run in March, but they have since suffered a dip in form and went eight matches without a win. In spite of the disappointing streak, everybody could see Bologna have too much quality to go down, and they finally managed to return to winning ways by beating Parma at Ennio Tardini last weekend. That victory must have done wonders for the players’ confidence and no doubt the hosts will be high on spirits when they play host to carefree Genoa. Given the clear difference in class between the two sides and the fact the hosts will have three key players back to the side, everything suggests the points will remain at Renato Dall’Ara. Prior to the aforementioned poor run of results, Bologna had been very convincing in front of home fans.

Alberto Gilardino, Panagiotis Kone and Diego Perez return from suspension, but Gianluca Curci, Mikael Antonsson and Niccolo Cherubin are out injured.

Survival is secured

Unlike their next opponents, Genoa have spent much of the current campaign in and around the relegation positions and just a couple of months back it looked as though they wouldn’t be able to escape the drop. However, the team finally rediscovered their form at the beginning of April and they did enough to secure survival with two games to go. While the team have got to be congratulated for the latest run of results, that cannot change the fact they were pretty disappointing throughout the current campaign, and the Rossoblu seem to be lacking the quality needed to match a side line Bologna. With the players losing motivation after realizing their pre-season ambitions and boss Davide Ballardini likely to field some fringe players in the final game of the season, Genoa don’t have much to hope for at the moment. Given that key players Andreas Granqvist and Juraj Kucka are unlikely to be risked as they are carrying knocks, home win do seem to be on the cards.

Marco Rossi, Ruben Olivera, Damiano Ferronetti and Cesare Bovo continue to miss out, while Kucka and Granqvist look set to remain on the bench.

Verdict

A morale-boosting victory was just what Felsinei needed to return to the right track and with key men returning to the side they look a good bet to defeat poor Genoa. The Rossoblu have achieved their primary goal and they will be lacking in motivation when they face Bologna, while the absence of key players is unlikely to aid their cause.

Top pick: Home win   2.20 (6/5) @ Stan James

Alternative pick 1: Over 2.5 goals   1.67 (2/3) @ bet365

Alternative pick 2: Bologna to win not to nil   3.70 (27/10) @ Coral

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