OUR man in Rome Marco Di Cosmo (@scioltz) casts his eye over both of Saturday's Serie A games.
Verona v Sampdoria | Saturday 17:00 | BT Sport 2
Here's another chance for Verona to save their season in this home match against Sampdoria. Both teams have played under their level for the whole season and a win here against Sampdoria is within their capabilities.
Samp have just won a key match against Frosinone to keep their head above the relegation parapet but I'm certain they won't go down and this match is a great opportunity to pick up three points.
Their coach Vincenzo Montella tried to impose a high quality brand of football on this team and I'm not sure that sits well with sides scrapping at the wrong end of the table. It's no surprise to me that this approach has not brought the requisite results so far.
Verona need a win here and I'm expecting them to scrap from the opening whistle. Backing them paid dividends two weeks ago when they beat Chievo 3-1 but I think goals will be the key here and I'm keen on Over 2.5 Goals.
Napoli v Chievo | Saturday 19:45 | BT Sport Europe
When will Napoli win again? It's now five games since they gained three points and despite being really unlucky in many of those games there's still something missing from this side.
We were right to go BTTS in their match against Fiorentina on Monday and the bet paid out after just 7 minutes and it's clear the azzurri are defensivley weaker than in the early part of the season. They had two enormous chances to win that match on Monday but were simply not effective enough.
The fact Napoli are out of the Europa League will have an impact on this team. I'm not sure they're capable of playing in two competitions with such a small squad.
This match against Chievo provides the ideal platform to get back to winning ways. Chievo? This team is safe with an 11 points cushion from Frosinone but they've clearly slowed down from the first half of the season.
The quality of their players is really low and only superb management has kept them in Serie A so far. They’ve also sold Alberto Paloschi and that will affect their offensive capabilities as he was their main striker.
I expect Napoli to keep a clean sheet here. Yes, that hasn't happened for five games but let's not forget they went seven games on the bounce achieving that earlier in the season.
Best Bets
Verona v Sampdoria – Over 2.5 Goals (10/11 Paddy Power)
Napoli v Chievo – Napoli to win to nil (5/6 Paddy Power)
