Sampdoria vs Catania

Sampdoria return home to the Stadio Luigi Ferraris in hopes of replicating their strong performance of week 27 in Serie A. They will be taking on a Catania outfit that won a match they absolutely had to have last week in their struggle to avoid making the drop to the second division.

The blucerchiati came up big away from home last week with a 1-2 win over Parma at the Stadio Ennio Tardini. That victory gives Sampdoria 39 points on the year which are good enough for 7^th place in the league table. This leaves them 1 point back of 6^th place Udinese and 3 ahead of the 8^th place side Palermo. They have now posted 2 wins, 2 draws and 1 defeat over their last 5 games. Montella remains out this week while there is a slight chance that Bellucci could be available. Striker Antonio Cassano remains out as he will be serving the second of a 5 match suspension. Bonazzoli looks set to make another start in his place.

Catania come into this contest in 15^th place of the league table with 27 points. They now sit 4 points back of Siena but just 1 ahead of 16^th place Livorno which is perilously close to the relegation zone. In their last match the side managed by Baldini held serve by a score of 2-1 over the struggling Cagliari at the Stadio Angelo Massimino. The win snapped a prolonged winless run and they have won posted 1 win, 3 draws and 1 loss in their past 5 matches. This week Morimoto and Jorge Martinez have been ruled out, while Biagianti will sit out suspended. Gazzola has been cleared to play and was included in the squad list. Catania will go with a 4-3-3 featuring Colucci, Spinesi and Mascara in attack.

The edge has to go to Sampdoria in this one. They come back home after a big win on the road to take on a Catania side who were only able to snap their winless run with a victory over last place Cagliari at home. Making matters worse for Catania is that they have yet to win a match away from home with just 5 draws from 14 matches. Sampdoria could win going away.

Prediction: Sampdoria (2-0)