There is Serie A action on Monday evening, with Bologna hosting Hellas Verona at the Renato Dall'Ara.

The hosts are unbeaten after their first two games, whilst the visitors are still searching for their first points of the new campaign.

Match preview

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Bologna boss Sinisa Mihajlovic will certainly be pleased with his side's start to the new season in Italy's top flight.

Since returning to Serie A in the 2015-16 season, The Red and Blues have never looked back and have managed to enjoy comfortable mid-table finishes for a number of years.

However, after starting with a victory and an impressive away draw, who knows how far the much-loved manager can take them.

The opening game saw Bologna fight back from a goal down twice at home to newly promoted Salernitana, in a thrilling 3-2 victory, which also saw two red cards for the hosts and one for their visitors.

Following that, a positive goalless draw away to Champions League side Atalanta was earned after another feisty encounter, in which Bologna had their backs to the wall for large parts.

Monday's hosts will now be looking to earn another successful result to continue their unbeaten start to the new campaign, against an opponent they remain without defeat against for over five years, with four wins and three draws in their last seven meetings.

Meanwhile, visitors Verona have endured a miserable start to their third consecutive season in Italy's top flight.

After enjoying consecutive top-half finishes in their two years since returning to Serie A, The Yellow and Blues currently find themselves in the relegation places heading into Monday's fixture.

Two defeats from two home games mean that Eusebio Di Francesco's men have failed to shake off the disappointing finish to the 2020-21 campaign, which saw them win just one of their final 13 league matches, including none of the last nine.

However, a positive that Di Francesco can take from the opening two defeats is that his side certainly showed spirit and character to fight for a result right until the end.

The opening weekend saw Verona defeated 3-2 by Sassuolo, despite being down to 10 men for half of the match after Miguel Veloso's two yellow cards.

Following that, another hard-fought performance was provided in defeat to Scudetto holders Inter Milan, where Verona held a lead for most of the first half and only fell in the final 10 minutes or so.

Team News

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Monday's hosts Bologna will welcome back duo Roberto Soriano and Jerdy Schouten against Verona, with the pair sitting out the draw with Atalanta after their red cards in the opening weekend win.

Takehiro Tomiyasu completed his move to Arsenal late in the transfer window, but Bologna had planned for his exit and he had not started in the opening two league matches anyway.

Defender Mitchell Dijks remains injured, as he has done since last season.

As for the visitors, they are welcoming back a player from suspension themselves, as Veloso is expected to slot back into central midfield after missing the defeat to Inter due to his red card against Sassuolo.

Federico Ceccherini is expected to be missing from the backline, as he was substituted early in the second half last time out against Inter due to an injury.

Bologna possible starting lineup:
Skorupski; Silvestri, Soumaoro, Bonifazi, Hickey; Soriano, Schouten, Svanberg; Orsolini, Arnautovic, Vignato

Hellas Verona possible starting lineup:
Montipo; Dawidowicz, Gunter, Magnani; Ruegg, Tameze, Veloso, Lazovic; Caprari, Barak; Simeone

We say: Bologna 2-1 Hellas Verona

If their opening fixtures are anything to go by then this should be a fairly open and entertaining game on Monday evening. Goals should be expected and we predict that Bologna will capitalise on home advantage and edge out their similarly matched opponents.

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