Hellas Verona vs Genoa

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Struggling to maintain their position in Serie A, Hellas Verona aim to sustain a recent positive trend this Sunday as they host Genoa at Stadio Bentegodi.

While the Gialloblu find themselves once again battling to avoid relegation this season, their opponents have comfortably secured a mid-table position after their return to the top flight of Italian football.

Having accumulated seven points from the last 12 available, Verona have notably enhanced their prospects of evading Serie A's relegation threat, a scenario they narrowly escaped through a tense relegation playoff last season.

Federico Bonazzoli found the net for only the second time this season in Monday's 1-1 draw against fellow strugglers Cagliari. Hellas Verona has now garnered just one point fewer during the latter half of the season compared to their entire points tally from the first half of the 2023-24 campaign.

Struggling to maintain their position in Serie A, Hellas Verona aim to sustain a recent positive trend this Sunday as they host Genoa at Stadio Bentegodi.

While the Gialloblu find themselves once again battling to avoid relegation this season, their opponents have comfortably secured a mid-table position after their return to the top flight of Italian football.

Having accumulated seven points from the last 12 available, Verona have notably enhanced their prospects of evading Serie A's relegation threat, a scenario they narrowly escaped through a tense relegation playoff last season.

Federico Bonazzoli found the net for only the second time this season in Monday's 1-1 draw against fellow strugglers Cagliari. Hellas Verona has now garnered just one point fewer during the latter half of the season compared to their entire points tally from the first half of the 2023-24 campaign.

With eight games left, Marco Baroni's team is still two points clear of the drop zone, so there is still plenty of work ahead of them. Despite this run, they have moved up from 18th at the midway mark to 15th.

Thus far, Verona has averaged less than one goal per game, while Bonazzoli has only been outscored by French attacker Thomas Henry (three) and midfielder Michael Folorunsho (four).

This weekend will be a worry for Baroni because they have only triumphed in one of their past six Serie A encounters against Genoa and have failed to score on three of those occasions (including a 1-0 loss in the rematch in November).

After their triumph at Marassi earlier this season, Genoa could potentially achieve the rare feat of defeating Verona twice in Serie A, a feat accomplished only twice before in 1957-58 and 2017-18.

The Genoese club seems poised to depart Stadio Bentegodi with full points, given their remarkable adjustment to life back in the top division.

In their most recent match, which pitted two teams promoted together last year, they settled for a draw against Frosinone, with Albert Gudmundsson converting a penalty in the first half to secure a 1-1 home draw.

Gudmundsson, likely to attract considerable interest in the upcoming transfer window, stands as the solitary player from teams in the bottom half of Serie A to have reached double-digit goals this season. The Icelandic forward's tally of 11 goals has played a significant role in ensuring Genoa's survival in the top flight.

Occupying the 12th spot in the standings as the season approaches its conclusion, last season's Serie B runners-up still harbor hopes of finishing in the top half.

However, they have only managed to win one of their last eight league matches, with the last two ending in draws, making it a total of 11 draws overall - a tally surpassed only by Udinese this season.

While Giangiacomo Magnani will be sidelined due to suspension, and Juan Manuel Cruz is still contending with a muscular injury, Verona manager Marco Baroni has Tomas Suslov and Karol Swiderski fully fit again for this weekend's match.

Both players were limited to substitute appearances on Monday, but now either of them could potentially be in the starting lineup to provide support for Federico Bonazzoli or Tijjani Noslin. The latter has been directly involved in two goals in his recent two matches, a significant improvement considering he had only scored one goal in seven appearances since joining in January.

On the other side, Genoa will miss Ruslan Malinovskyi due to injury and Italian striker Mateo Retegui, who is serving a one-game suspension for accumulated bookings.

Genoa's other attacking options, Vitinha and Caleb Ekuban, are also uncertain due to fitness issues, although top scorer Albert Gudmundsson is expected to recover from illness and start upfront.