Palermo vs Genoa
Football: Seria A
Venue: Stadio Barbera, Palermo
Sunday 22th January – Kickoff time: 15:00 GMT+1

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Palermo (14th W-6 D-3 L-9)

Palermo is in poor form, only picking up two points from their last six fixtures, results that dropped them to 14th place. New coach Bortolo Mutti is still seeking his first win since he took over the team in December.

The Sicilians were solid at home in the first part of the season, but surprisingly lost to struggling Cesena (0-1), result followed by another home loss this time to Napoli (1-3). Palermo is actually the only side from Seria A not to register a draw when playing at home this season.

Bortolo Mutti will be without Abel Hernandez, Eros Pisano and Eran Zahavi, all three being injured. On the other hand, new signing Massimo Donati may already play from the start in this match.

Probable Palermo line-up :

Benussi
Munoz, Silvestre, Mantovani, Balzaretti
Migliaccio, Donati, Barreto
Ilicic
Budan, Miccoli

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Genoa (9th W-7 D-3 L-8)

Another team that goes all or nothing is Genoa, not sharing a draw in their last 11 games (five wins, six defeats). With 7 victories so far, Genoa is in the 9th position at the moment, 3 points above Palermo.

Genoa are set to welcome Giuseppe Sculli on their line-up, after making his second debut for the club in the Thursday’s defeat against Internazionale (Copa Italia).

On the other hand, there are serious squad issues regarding defenders, Dainelli, Antonelli and Bovo might all miss this game.

I can’t say they were quite tight in defense even when they had them in the squad, Genoa conceding 29 goals so far, 9 of them in their last two travels. Genoa actually lost four of their last five away games, conceding an average of three goals per game.

Probable Genoa line-up :

Benussi
Mesto, Granqvist, Moretti, Constant
Biondini, Veloso, Kucka
Palacio, Gilardino, Sculli

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The Betting Verdict

I would not say that Palermo’s form recommend them to be backed at this moment. I can understand Napoli winning here in a categorical manner as we all know what they are capable of in a good day, especially City’s fans, but also losing to Cesena means something is not right.

They do have an advantage as Genoa’s main defenders will probably miss the game, so the home side should create more chances, but the visitors have some great attacking players as well, like Gilardino or Palacio.

I would say that after the impressive victory over Udinese, Genoa has a better momentum, but their defense was quite shaky over the last few weeks so I prefer taking over 2.5 goals in this one, as both coaches will display offensive line-ups and neither are great in defense.

The Statistics :

The Pick :

Palermo 1-2 Genoa

FIXED ODDS BETTING :

Take Over 2.5 goals at 1.91 Ladbrokes
Confidence: 8/10