Marc’Antonio Bentegodi players host as Hellas Verona and Roma meet in Serie A and it’s time to preview the game and take a look at the expected lineups. The sides have experienced contrasting fortunes so far this season, with the visitors aiming to maintain their 100% league start against hot relegation candidates.
While Roma enjoyed a start to the season from a fairytale, Verona have a point to prove here as they seek their first Serie A points this term.
Hellas Verona vs Roma Head-to-Head
Before losing this exact fixture last season, Roma had won two Serie A visits to Bentegodi in succession, conceding just once across those victories.
Home and away, Verona have collected just two wins in their last 30 Serie A matches against Roma (D9, L19), one of which was last season’s awarded 3-0 triumph. Indeed, you have to go back to October 1996 to find Hellas Verona’s last top-flight win over the Giallorossi at home (D4, L4 since).
Yet, there’s been plenty of entertainment in their recent Serie A H2Hs, as each of the last three has featured 3+ overall goals and both teams on the scoresheet, excluding walkovers.
Hellas Verona Form Preview
It’s been a thoroughly disappointing Serie A start for Hellas Verona so far. They have suffered three consecutive defeats at the beginning of the 2021/22 league campaign, and as a result, manager Eusebio Di Francesco has been sacked. Incoming coach Igor Tudor will be looking to help the Gialloblu pick themselves up from their worst Serie A start since 1996/97.
Tudor’s last managerial endeavor in Serie A faltered badly, as he only lasted for two months at Udinese in 2019. But, the Croatian strategist saved Udinese from relegation in 2018, a feat he would want to achieve with Verona this time around.
After losing to Sassuolo and Inter Milan, Hellas could open a new Serie A season with three home defeats in a row for the first time in their top-flight history. By extension, the hosts have gone winless in their last ten league matches at Bentegodi (D4, L6) since a 2-1 victory over last season’s relegation boys Parma in mid-February.
Desperate to snap the club’s third-longest winless Serie A streak on home turf, Verona will need Gianluca Caprari to find his feet after a sluggish start. The 28-year-old playmaker, who learned his traits at Roma, has netted three goals against his boyhood club in Italy’s top-flight.
Roma Form Preview
Roma’s form under Jose Mourinho has been a sharp contrast to their hosts. Ahead of the kick-off, the Giallorossi are one of only three sides to have won all three inaugural Serie A fixtures in 2021/22, including a 4-0 thumping of newly-promoted Salernitana in their only league trip so far.
For the first time in his trophy-laden managerial career, Mourinho has won each of his opening five competitive matches at a new club. Stephan El Shaaraway‘s last-gasp winner against Sassuolo last time out also painted Mou’s 1000th managerial appearance with flying colors. Everything they’ve done under the Portuguese tactician so far shows the capital-based giants mean business this season.
Roma dismantled Bulgarian side CSKA Sofia 5-1 in their Europa Conference League curtain-raiser on Thursday despite falling behind within ten minutes. Going into this matchday on an eye-catching six-match winning streak in all competitions, the Giallorossi could win back-to-back Serie A outings away from home for the first time since August 2020.
Keep an eye on El Shaaraway, who has undergone quite a renaissance under Mourinho this season. The Italian winger endured a torrid second half of last season under Paulo Fonseca, but he has already tallied three goals in five competitive games this term.
Hellas Verona vs Roma Predicted Lineups
Hellas Verona (3-4-2-1): Lorenzo Montipo; Pawel Dawidowicz, Koray Gunter, Federico Ceccherini; Davide Faraoni, Adrien Tameze, Ivan Ilic, Darko Lazovic; Antonin Barak, Nikola Kalinic; Kevin Lasagna.
Roma (4-2-3-1): Rui Patricio; Bryan Reynolds, Gianluca Mancini, Roger Ibanez, Matias Vina; Bryan Cristante, Jordan Veretout; Nicolo Zaniolo, Lorenzo Pellegrini, Henrikh Mkhitaryan; Tammy Abraham.