Still seeking their first win of the new Serie A season, Hellas Verona welcome unbeaten Atalanta BC to Stadio Bentegodi on Sunday evening.
While the hosts fought back to pick up their first point at Bologna last week, their visitors held the reigning champions to a draw.
Match preview
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A week after being thumped by Napoli on the opening day, Hellas Verona managed to get off the mark in Serie A by rescuing a 1-1 draw at Stadio Renato Dall'Ara last Sunday.
Summer signing Thomas Henry continued his fine form stretching back to the end of last season; scoring in his fourth successive top-flight game, after Gabriele Cioffi's side had gone behind to a Marko Arnautovic goal in the first half.
Cioffi was in dire need of a positive result, as his start to life in Verona has been sluggish since replacing Igor Tudor at the end of last season.
Before last week, the former Crawley Town coach had suffered a 4-1 defeat in the Coppa Italia - at home to Serie B side Bari - and a 5-2 reverse at Napoli to kick off their league campaign.
Even under the relatively successful Tudor, Hellas had been leaking goals from all angles, and they have now conceded 18 times in their last nine league matches; furthermore, they have not kept a clean sheet in nearly five months.
Having also lost their last four home fixtures, including that humbling cup exit, a repeat of their 2-1 victory over Atalanta in April would be warmly welcomed by both Cioffi and the Gialloblu faithful.
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Perhaps in one of his final appearances for the club, if talk of his departure turns out to be true, Ruslan Malinovskyi was once again Atalanta's man of the moment against one of Serie A's top sides, as he opened the scoring at home to Milan last week.
With a typically powerful finish, the Ukrainian hotshot may have given La Dea an advantage in their closely-contested Lombardy derby, but Ismael Bennacer then struck back with an even more impressive finish to leave the scores level at the final whistle.
Nonetheless, after a terrible first half of 2022, Atalanta appear to be achieving some stability, and following their 2-0 win at Sampdoria on the opening weekend, they have posted four points from their first two games.
Gian Piero Gasperini saw his side struggle on home soil last term, but outside of Bergamo they still managed to prosper: picking up more points on the road than Juventus, Lazio and Roma despite ultimately finishing eighth.
Having won their first away fixture this season, the Nerazzurri now aim to continue a trend which has seen them achieve two wins from their first two games across each of the last three seasons - and their hosts' recent woes will boost belief they can do so.
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Team News
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As Federico Ceccherini and Miguel Veloso have recently returned to action, Gabriele Cioffi has an almost full squad at his disposal on Sunday, though captain Davide Faraoni came off injured against Bologna.
French forward Thomas Henry could become the first-ever Verona player to score in his first three Serie A matches for the club, having also found the net in each of his last four top-flight games.
With Antonin Barak apparently set to sign for Fiorentina, Ivan Ilic should continue to feature in the midfield three of Cioffi's 3-5-2 formation, as Kevin Lasagna joins Henry up front.
Meanwhile, Atalanta arrive in Veneto with their defensive crisis growing more acute, after Berat Djimsiti suffered a leg fracture last week; joining suspended Jose Luis Palomino on the sidelines. Young prospects Caleb Okoli and Giorgio Scalvini will therefore compete to start in the visitors' back three.
As Brandon Soppy recently arrived from Udinese and Davide Zappacosta is now available again after injury, there will be a three-way battle to feature on the right flank, with Hans Hateboer the man in possession.
Despite a lack of playing time so far, Jeremie Boga hopes to start, having scored three goals and laid on three assists in five previous games against Verona; Duvan Zapata leads the line but has scored only once in his last 14 matches.
Hellas Verona possible starting lineup:
Montipo; Coppola, Gunter, Retsos; Faraoni, Tameze, Hongla, Ilic, Lazovic; Lasagna, Henry
Atalanta BC possible starting lineup:
Musso; Toloi, Demiral, Scalvini; Hateboer, De Roon, Koopmeiners, Maehle; Malinovskyi, Pasalic; Zapata
We say: Hellas Verona 1-2 Atalanta BC
Though they could not hold on for the win, Atalanta fared well against Milan and confidence seems to be returning to a squad which looked drained at the end of last season. As Verona are yet to solve their defensive issues, the visitors can score more than once and take three points back to Bergamo.
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Jonathan O'Shea
