Sampdoria are in danger of slipping into the dangerous zone after losing to Inter, so the hosts are hoping to rediscover their home form and record an invaluable win. Cesena boosted their survival chances as they beat Chievo at home and they now look to bring a rare point from the travels.

Sampdoria struggling for goals

If you are a regular follower of the betting tips section, you will probably remember that I have talked about Sampdoria’s scoring problems that arose from the departures of Antonio Cassano and Giampaolo Pazzini, and there is nothing new to add there. Mimmo Di Carlo’s decision to play Massimo Maccarone as a lone striker is not producing results, so the fans are hoping either Jonathan Biabiany or Kiko Macheda partner the veteran striker in attack. Samp’s performances have not been that bad over the last few weeks, but the team suffered from a very difficult fixture list that included matches against Genoa, Fiorentina and Inter. This is now a perfect opportunity for the Doriani to return to winning ways and the hosts should be able to triumph over one of the worst travelers in Serie A.

Mimmo Di Carlo has no fresh injury worries, although Nicola Pozzi, Franco Semioli and Fernando Tissone remain sidelined.

Cesena back in business

Apart from a couple of stand out results, Cesena have been pretty disappointing throughout the season and nobody can say they don’t deserve to get relegated. The Seahorses recorded most of the good results at their Stadio Dino Manuzzi, while their 1-4-8 record on the travels speaks for itself. Cesena managed to improve their survival chances as they brought a point from Parma before beating Chievo at home thanks to the last-minute penalty goal from Luis Jimenez, but they still face an uphill task at Marassi. Team’s shaky defence doesn’t look capable of keeping a clean sheet against Samp, whereas the visitors are likely to have major problems in attack without the first choice strikers.

Starters Erjon Bogdani and Luca Ceccarelli sit out through suspension, while Ivan Fatic, Felipe and Stephane Appiah are out with injuries. Igor Budan could start on the bench.

Verdict

Sampdoria’s latest performances are not as bad as the results would suggest and this is a perfect chance for them to turn things around. Cesena have major problems on the travels and they will be without several key players at Marassi, so my advice is to bet on home win.

Our prediction: Home win

Odds: 1.73 (8/11)

Bookmaker: Bodog