Genoa v Fiorentina

Genoa vs Fiorentina Preview

The Italian top flight season starts this weekend and Saturday night features this upcoming clash between newly promoted hosts, Genoa, and their visitors, Fiorentina, when the two teams meet at the Stadio Comunale Luigi Ferraris with both teams looking to get themselves off to a winning start.

Genoa finished last season's Serie B campaign runners-up behind the title winners Frosinone with both teams achieving automatic promotion back up into Serie A for this forthcoming season and Genoa may well fancy their chances in this opening fixture at home against a Fiorentina outfit who were pretty inconsistent on their travels last term.

Genoa ended a very successful campaign last term in solid form as the hosts were handed just the one defeat in their last 15 matches of the term, that defeat being a 3-2 loss away from home at Frosinone, but nevertheless, Genoa also picked up 10 wins during this period as well which secured their return to the domestic big time.

The hosts also held an impressive record on home soil as they won nine of their last 10 home games, being unbeaten into the bargain while also keeping no fewer than eight clean sheets which contributed to six of these 10 games also resulting in Under 2.5 goals.

Fiorentina finished last season in the top half of the Serie A table but missed out on securing one of the European places as they trailed seventh-placed Juventus by a six-point margin at the end of the campaign.

Despite failing to land a European spot though, Fiorentina finished last season in pretty solid form as the visitors suffered just two defeats in their last 15 league matches in the Italian top flight which came in the form of losses incurred at Monza and Napoli and both away from home.

Fiorentina also collected nine wins during this period as well which included wins on the road at Verona, Cremonese, Inter Milan and Sassuolo but although they racked up three wins on the trot between the end of February through to early March, Fiorentina managed to capture just one further win in their final five outings on the road.

Six of Fiorentina's last 10 away games also resulted in Under 2.5 goals being scored and they may be hard pressed to beat an improving Genoa outfit, especially in their own backyard.

Genoa v Fiorentina Verdict

Three out of the last five meetings between Genoa and Fiorentina have produced two goals or fewer and with this being the first game of the season for both sides on Saturday night, both teams may cancel each other out in the goalscoring department or at the very least, produce a low-scoring encounter.

Therefore, our main bet will be Under 2.5 goals @ 1.72

Other side bets worth considering:

Genoa win & Under 2.5 goals @ 7.00

Correct score: Genoa 2-0 @ 17.00