Click here for today’s sports betting tips from our expert analysts!
After a bright-ish start to the campaign for Genoa, off-field issues have now taken over and they are struggling on the pitch, too, as they head into their eighth match of the campaign by welcoming Bologna this weekend.
KICK-OFF DATE/TIME: Saturday 19th October, 2024 - UK – 2:00pm / US ET – 9:00am / US PT – 6:00am
HOW TO WATCH ON TV: UK – Not televised / US – Select matches will be televised on CBS Sports so it is worth checking their schedule
HOW TO WATCH ONLINE: UK – OneFootball / US – Paramount+
GENOA PREVIEW: GILARDINO’S GENOA
777 Partners are the company in charge of Genoa and their issues are well documented with their failed takeover of Everton. Off-field issues are rumbling away in the background of Genoa and their on-the-pitch form has fallen off a cliff with their only hope being the supposed genius of their manager Alberto Gilardino.
They started the season with a 2-2 draw against defending champions Internazionale before then defeating Monza by a goal to nil but the hosts are now winless in their last six matches across all competitions, including a Derby della Lanterna loss to Sampdoria in the Coppa Italia and then a 5-1 loss to Atalanta a couple of weeks ago.
BOLOGNA PREVIEW: GROWING INTO THE SEASON
After qualifying for the UEFA Champions League last season, Bologna then lost manager Thiago Motta to Juventus as well as key players such as Riccardo Calafiori and Joshua Zirkzee to Arsenal and Manchester United respectively. Bologna have replaced Motta with former Fiorentina coach Vincenzo Italiano.
Despite winning just one of their opening seven games of the 2024/25 campaign, it hasn’t been an absolutely disgraceful start by Italiano because Bologna have, remarkably, drawn five of those seven games. Their most recent outing saw them held to a frustrating goalless draw at home to ten-man, newly-promoted Parma a couple of weeks ago.
GENOA TEAM NEWS: SO MANY ISSUES
The departures of both Albert Gudmundsson and Mateo Retegui left Genoa short up top and that has been worsened by the injuries of Junior Messias, Caleb Ekuban and Vitinha.
Former Olympique de Marseille midfielder Ruslan Malinovskiy is also unavailable due to injury after suffering a horrific ankle break a few weeks ago.
PREDICTED XI (3-5-2): Gollini; Vogliacco, Bani, Johan Vasquez; Zanoli, Thorsby, Bohinen, Miretti, Caricol; Pinamonti, Ekhator
UNAVAILABLE: De Winter (Injured), Badelj (Injured), Malinovskiy (Injured), Junior Messias (Injured), Ekuban (Injured), Vitinha (Injured)
QUESTIONABLE: Gollini (Injured)
BOLOGNA TEAM NEWS: COUPLE OF INJURIES
Vincenzo Italiano has stated that he plays a similar style of football to Thiago Motta but there is a slight tweak in the system from a 4-1-4-1 to more of a 4-3-3.
Bologna are still dealing with a couple of long-term injury absentees such as Oussama El Azzouzi and Scotland international midfielder Lewis Ferguson.
PREDICTED XI (4-3-3): Ravaglia; Holm, Beukema, Erlic, Lykogiannis; Aebischer, Freuler, Moro; Orsolini, Castro, Ndoye
UNAVAILABLE: El Azzouzi (Injured), Ferguson (Injured)
QUESTIONABLE:
GENOA VS BOLOGNA PREDICTION
Alberto Gilardino is a good and pragmatic coach dealing with the sale of key players, the arrival of few players and injuries to even more key players. They are winless in a while, though, and are under a bit of pressure now. Bologna have shown themselves to be difficult to beat even without the rhythm and fluency of a typical Thiago Motta style. A double chance bet in favour of Bologna remains the way to go for this one.
GENOA VS BOLOGNA TIP: DOUBLE CHANCE – BOLOGNA TO WIN OR DRAW