Hellas Verona will be aiming to avoid heading into the World Cup at the foot of Serie A's table by ending their losing streak against Spezia on Sunday,
The visitors, meanwhile, will be guaranteed to remain outside of the bottom three should they avoid defeat.
Match preview
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Verona suffered a ninth successive league defeat by losing 1-0 at home to Juventus on Thursday, as Salvatore Bocchetti's side remained one point behind Sampdoria at the bottom of the table.
Moise Kean's strike on the hour mark proved to be the difference between the sides on the day in a fiery contest, with Alex Sandro sent off for a second bookable offence in injury time.
Verona's performance was improved from recent weeks, with I Gialloblu generating 15 shots across the course of the match, but they could not find a way past Mattia Perin in the opposition goal.
Bocchetti, who replaced Gabriele Cioffi exactly one month before their forthcoming fixture against Spezia despite having no UEFA Pro License, has clearly failed to turn things around having lost all five of his games in charge so far.
The 35-year-old must ensure that Verona do not succumb to a 10th consecutive loss in Serie A on Sunday if he is to have any realistic chance of remaining in the job beyond the World Cup, with the club's status in Italy's top flight looking increasingly perilous.
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Spezia, meanwhile, are aiming to avoid relegation for the third successive season having finished 16th last time around.
Luca Gotti's side retained their three point lead above 18th-placed Cremonese after both sides drew on Tuesday, with Spezia holding Udinese to a 1-1 draw at Stadio Alberto Picco.
Arkadiusz Reca opened the scoring for the hosts in the 33rd minute before Sandi Lovric equalised two minutes before the break, with Gotti likely to have been disappointed by his side's failure to convert 21 shots into a potentially decisive second goal.
However, every point is crucial for a club of Spezia's size especially after losing each of their previous three matches, and if they can pile on Verona's misery by claiming their first league win since prior to September's international break, they will return in the New Year with renewed confidence of achieving their primary aim in terms of staying up this season.
Team News
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Verona are likely to be without Marco Davide Faraoni, Roberto Piccoli, Ajdin Hrustic and Diego Coppola against Spezia due to injury.
After putting in an improved display despite falling to a narrow defeat against Juventus last time out, Bocchetti may be tempted to pick the same starting XI, although the likes of Miguel Veloso, Simone Verdi, Darko Lazovic and Thomas Henry all provide options to mix things up after they appeared from the bench.
Spezia, meanwhile, will travel without Reca after their goalscorer from midweek sustained a hamstring injury during the draw against Udinese, with Gotti lacking natural alternatives at left wing-back.
Viktor Kovalenko and Emmanuel Gyasi will not make the trip to Verona due to muscle strains.
Hellas Verona possible starting lineup:
Montipo; Dawidowicz, Hien, Ceccherini; Terracciano, Hongla, Kakari, Doig; Lasagna, Kallon; Duric
Spezia possible starting lineup:
Zoet; Ampadu, Kiwior, Nikolaou; Holm, Ekdal, Bourabia, Agudelo, Ellertsson; Verde, Nzola
We say: Hellas Verona 1-1 Spezia
Verona should have taken slight confidence from their match against Juventus in midweek despite losing to the Italian giants, and we can envisage their losing streak coming to an end on Sunday.
Spezia would likely be content with remaining outside of the relegation zone ahead of the World Cup by avoiding defeat, so it could be a stalemate at Stadio Marcantonio Bentegodi.
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.
Brett Curtis
