Verona and Cagliari are hoping not to be sucked into a relegation battle come the end of the season as they meet at the Stadio Marc'Antonio Bentegodi in Serie A on Monday night.
Indeed, both teams are in 14th and 16th respectively and are seven and five points above the relegation zone with just five games to play. Verona are now winless in four matches after losing 1-0 at Roma last time out, and have also gone three games without victory on home soil.
Cagliari also lost their last match as they went down 2-1 at home to Fiorentina, and will want to avoid a third successive defeat when they visit Verona. Cagliari have also been suffering the away day blues of late, having not won on their travels since early January.
Cagliari have also won only one of their last seven H2Hs against Verona, although that was in their last meeting. Nonetheless, a win for either side should ease any worries of potential relegation.
How the bookies view it: Verona just favourites
Verona are narrow favourites to win on home turf, with BoyleSports offering 11/8 odds for their victory. A draw is priced at 7/4 with the same bookmaker, while a Cagliari victory is valued at 19/10.
Recent head-to-head: Roberto Piccs his spot
Cagliari edged a 1-0 win at home in the reverse fixture, with Roberto Piccoli scoring the only goal with 15 minutes to go.
Players to watch: Both teams have big boots to fill
For Verona, Daniel Mosquera will likely play in place of the missing Casper Tengstedt, while Leandro Pavoletti should replace the suspended Piccoli for Cagliari. Both missing players are their respective team's top scorers, which could have a significant impact on the result.
Predicted lineups
Verona's top scorer Tengstedt may not be fit enough to start after just returning from injury, while Pawel Dawidowicz is definitely ruled out.
Cagliari will also be missing their top scorer Piccoli, who netted the winner in the reverse fixture, through suspension. Alessandro Deiola has returned from suspension though, but Yerry Mina misses out through injury.
Verona: Montipo, Ghilardi, Coppola, Valentini, Tchatchoua, Duda, Serdar, Bernede, Bradaric, Sarr, Mosquera.
Cagliari: Caprile, Zappa, Palomino, Luperto, Zortea, Adopo, Makoumbou, Augello, Viola, Luvumbo, Pavoletti.
Anything else catch the eye?
With the top scorers for both teams out, we can see a low-scoring affair. Under 2.5 total goals can be backed at 8/15 with BoyleSports. That means less goalmouth action that can result in corners, so also backing Under 8.5 total corners at 13/10 with the same bookmaker also seems sensible.
This Serie A match between Verona and Cagliari will be played on and kick off at 19:45. Check below for our tipsters best Verona vs Cagliari prediction. You may also visit our dedicated betting previews section for the most up to date previews.
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