Although Genoa are two places behind Torino in the Serie A table, the home side are in superior form heading into Saturday's round 15 clash at Stadio Luigi Ferraris.
Patrick Vieira's men secured a first victory under the Frenchman at Udinese and aim for consecutive triumphs against their Turin opponents, whose last win came in late October against Como.
Match preview
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Genoa went into the previous gameweek having failed to score in nine of their last 14 visits to Udinese but were handed a significant boost when Isaak Toure received his marching orders after four minutes.
That gave Vieira's side the advantage of an extra man for 86 minutes minus additional time, and the Rossoblu scored twice through the in-form Andrea Pinamonti and a Lautaro Giannetti own goal to seal the club's third victory this term and second in four rounds.
However, all three triumphs have been on their travels, with the Liguria outfit winless in eight Serie A games at the Luigi Ferraris, playing out five draws and losing three.
Despite the ongoing run, supporters will be aware of Torino firing blanks on their recent two league visits to Genoa, with the home side claiming maximum points in 2022, and will back their team to extend that run to three and improve to five matches without losing.
Having seen his players concede two penalties on his home debut against Cagliari, Vieira's men aim to avoid costly giveaways this time, keen to notch a first league win as hosts since May (2-0 vs Bologna).
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The fans in Liguria head into Saturday with optimism, given Torino's inability to score consistently in the competition since October.
After starting the season scoring 14 times in the opening eight rounds, Paolo Vanoli's team have netted two in the subsequent six in Serie A, beating Como (1-0) and sharing the spoils with Monza (1-1).
That magnifies where the issues are for the Turin outfit, who have fired blanks in four of their last five, losing 1-0 to Roma, Fiorentina and Napoli while conceding twice to Thiago Motta's Juventus (0-2).
Having lost four away matches on the trot, the team to concede the most shots on target in the Italian top tier (74) could allow more when they visit an opponent that have accrued 10 in two games under Vieira — six against Cagliari and four at Udinese.
Regardless, Vanoli will hope for some good fortune in Saturday's fixture after several marginal defeats — six of this season's seven losses have been by a goal.
Team News
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Fresh off overtaking Marcelo Brozovic's 261 Serie A appearances for a Croatian player, Milan Badelj is expected to feature for the 263rd time on Saturday.
Pinamonti has been involved in three goals in his last four top-flight games, scoring two, and the forward seeks his sixth league strike this weekend.
Vieira has several players absent against Torino: Johan Vasquez is suspended for one match, while Koni De Winter (muscle), Caleb Ekuban (thigh) and Ruslan Malinovskyi (ankle) are missing due to injury.
Duvan Zapata (knee) is Torino's long-term absentee, while Perr Schuurs (knee) and Ivan Ilic (hamstring) are ruled out for Saturday.
Antonio Sanabria is close to being involved in 50 goals in Serie A after scoring 39 times and registering nine assists, and the forward aims to hit that half-century at Genoa.
While Genoa's Aaron Martin is at risk of suspension if he is booked, the away side have two players close to one-match bans: Saul Coco and Sebastian Walukiewicz.
Genoa possible starting lineup:
Leali; Sabelli, Bani, Vogliacco, Martin; Frendrup, Badelj, Thorsby; Zanoli, Pinamonti, Miretti
Torino possible starting lineup:
Milinkovic-Savic; Walukiewicz, Coco, Masina; Pedersen, Vlasic, Ricci, Gineitis, Lazaro; Adams, Sanabria
We say: Genoa 2-1 Torino
Despite Genoa's winless run at the Luigi Ferraris, the Liguria outfit are playing Torino at a favourable time, given the Bull's wretched results. Thus, we expect Vieira's men to secure a close margin of victory at the Maroons' expense.
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.
