Hellas Verona welcome Benevento to the Stadio Bentegodi in Serie A action on Monday night.
The newly-promoted visitors make the long trip north, having surprised a few teams this season, leaving them 13th in the table. Verona have punched above their weight and are in eighth place after five rounds of fixtures.
Hellas Verona needed penalties to get past Venezia in their Coppa Italia third round fixture as the game finished 3-3 after extra time.
Verona are making a habit of getting draws, but their 1-1 draw against Juventus last weekend was quite an impressive one.
They seemed set to grab their first win in Turin, having led for 75 minutes thanks to Andrea Favilli's opener, only for Dejan Kulusevski to make it 1-1. Nonetheless, Ivan Juric's men held on for an impressive point.
Benevento are in poor form, making it three losses on the trot as they lost 4-2 to Serie B side Empoli in the Coppa Italia. Earlier in the week, Pippo Inzaghi faced off against former AC Milan teammate Gennaro Gattuso on the touchline, with the combative midfielder's Napoli side defeating Benevento by a 2-1 scoreline at the Stadio Ciro Vigorito.
Roberto Insigne's emotions were obvious as he scored the opener against Napoli, only for brother Lorenzo to tie things up in the 60th minute with a trademark curler into the top corner. Andrea Petagna scored seven minutes later to give Napoli the lead and they held on for all three points.
Hellas Verona vs Benevento Head-to-Head
Benevento have had the slight upper hand in the last six games between the two teams, winning three of them and drawing one, while Verona have won twice.
The last time these two sides met was in Serie B, in the 2018-19 season, with a victory each for the away sides, as Verona won 1-0 in December and Benevento won 3-0 at the Bentegodi in April, 2019.
Hellas Verona form guide: W-L-D-D-W
Benevento form guide: L-W-L-L-L
Hellas Verona vs Benevento Team News
Hellas Verona
The injuries continue to rack up for Hellas Verona, leaving manager Ivan Juric very little flexibility to mould his lineup. Davide Faraoni, Federico Ceccherini, Matteo Lovato and Kevin Reugg joined the heavily-packed treatment room, with Andrea Favilli also missing out. Koray Gunter tested positive for coronavirus again, so his isolation continues.
Having rested most of his stars against Venezia in the cup, Juric can name virtually the same lineup that started against Juve, although Matteo Lovato, Federico Ceccherini and Davide Faraoni may be replaced by Pawel Dawidowicz, Giangiacomo Magnani and Federico Dimarco respectively.
Injuries: Marco Benassi, Federico Ceccherini, Matteo Lovato, Andrea Favilli, Andrea Danzi, Miguel Veloso, Koray Gunter, Samuel di Carmine, Mert Cetin
Doubtful: None
Suspensions: None
Benevento
Inzaghi welcomes Gabriele Moncini and Nicolas Viola back into the fold, but Federico Barba and Iago Falque will remain unavailable for this game through injury. Massimo Volta is out with a long-term injury.
Inzaghi is likely to stick with the side that led for 75 minutes against Napoli, having rested his first team in the midweek Coppa Italia fixture.
Injuries: Federico Barba, Massimo Volta, Iago Falque
Doubtful: None
Suspensions: None
Hellas Verona vs Benevento Predicted Lineups
Hellas Verona predicted XI (3-4-1-2): Marco Silvestri (GK); Pawel Dawidowicz, Giangiacomo Magnani, Alan Empereur; Federico Dimarco, Ronaldo Vieira, Mattia Zaccagni, Darko Lazovic; Adrien Tameze, Ebrima Colley; Nikola Kalinic
Benevento Predicted XI (4-3-2-1): Lorenzo Montipo (GK); Gaetano Letizia, Kamil Glik, Luca Caldirola, Daam Foulon; Artur Ionita, Pasquale Schiattarella, Perparim Hetemaj; Roberto Insigne, Gianluca Caprari; Gianluca Lapadula.
Hellas Verona vs Benevento Prediction
Hellas Verona have quite the injury list to deal with. Despite that challenge, Ivan Juric has found a way for his side to be defensively sound, even though they do ride their luck at times.
Benevento tend to leak goals at the back, so Nikola Kalinic may profit, while Gianluca Lapadula may find it tough going at the other end.
Nonetheless, we can expect a closely-fought encounter to take place at the Bentegodi, and a draw to be the eventual outcome.
Prediction: Hellas Verona 1-1 Benevento