OUR man in Rome Marco Di Cosmo (@scioltz) gives us his view on six Serie A games this Sunday.
Atalanta v Palermo | Sunday 14:00
Palermo have a lot of problems at the moment between manager, players and president. A number of players have been excluded from the team for disciplinary reason, but moreover their best recruit, the only one who could make any difference for this team is suspended, Franco Vazquez.
Atalanta are a solid team. They beat Roma last week and have enough quality upfront to score easily against Palermo. This is a banker for me, I'm all over Atalanta.
Fiorentina v Udinese | Sunday 14:00 | BT Sport ESPN
Fiorentina are have been hitting the brakes in recent weeks with draws against Basel, Empoli and Sassuolo. Don't worry though there's no crisis as they still ooze quality.
Sadly though they've suffered too many defensive leaks and I feel too much rotation goes on amongst the players. On Sunday Paulo Sousa should play with their best available players and they will face one of the softest away teams in Udinese. Back Fiorentina to score more than one goal, as has happened in five of their seven home games.
Frosinone v Chievo | Sunday 14:00
I've often talked about Frosinone in this column and praised the minnows rise as one the best stories in Serie A. The ciociari are still getting my respect thanks to their superb home record and their recent win against Verona.
Here they have a key match against the other Verona side and I think they have every chance of doing the double but I prefer a goals bet.
Chievo are a defensive team usually but the home side play very aggressively when on home turf. They can score relatively easily but also have defensive issues. Back both teams to find the net.
Verona v Empoli | Sunday 14:00
Verona have sacked their manager with the team still waiting for their first win of the season in Serie A. Luigi Del Neri is the new coach and he's an experienced man who knows how to thrive in this competition.
Empoli, I must admit, have been better than I expected and they haven't seemed to suffer too much with the summer changes in their coaching and key player department.
I don't think they're capable of getting a win here though. Verona have registered three losses in their last three matches but I'm going on motivations. If they don't get something from this game they will be relegated 100%. Back them at least to avoid defeat.
Sampdoria v Sassuolo | Sunday 17:00 | BT Sport 1
Here we have another match centred on managerial issues with Vincenzo Montella, hero of Sampdoria as a player, having been appointed as their new coach.
He's started his new job with two losses but I believe in his quality and I'm confident he will find the wining way soon. He has the opportunity to deliver on Sunday against a Sassuolo side who are slowing down away from home (one point in their last four matches) and moreover missing their greatest player in Domenico Berardi.
Carpi v AC Milan | Sunday 19:45 | BT Sport Europe
AC Milan seem to have finally found their way this season. After big name transfers in the summer window Carlos Bacca and the rest of their players seems to have found a balance as we seen in their 4-1 win against Sampdoria. The addition of Mbaye Niang has also been a key element in this revival.
Milan do not travel very well but they have the chance to improve that poor record against Carpi who are one of the weakest sides in the league. I think we'll see goals here with Milan coming out on top.
Best Bets
Atalanta v Palermo – Atalanta to win (4/5 BetVictor)
Fiorentina v Udinese – Fiorentina to score Over 1.5 Goals (6/10 Boylesports)
Frosinone v Chievo – Both Teams To Score (Evens 10Bet)
Verona v Empoli – Verona Double Chance (8/15 Bet365)
Sampdoria v Sassuolo – Sampdoria to win (7/5 Ladbrokes)
Carpi v AC Milan – AC Milan to win (4/5 Betfred)
7/1 Liverpool to beat Newcastle
You can back Liverpool at 7/1 on Sunday when you join Coral before kick off in their match against Newcastle.
