Cremonese vs Venezia Predictions

• Both sides won their head-to-head home games during the regular season.
• Cremonese have won their last three home games.
• Venezia have two defeats in their last three away from home.

Serie A the prize for Cremonese and Venezia

Cremonese host Venezia in the first leg of the Serie B play-off final on Thursday in what looks to be a clash between two evenly matched teams.

Venezia finished just three points and one place above their hosts at the end of the standard league season, and both sides managed one win each in their head-to-head meetings.

Home advantage crucial

Venezia are the clear favourites to win promotion and over the course of the two legs I’m expecting them to overcome Cremonese, but they may have to come from behind.

La Cremo won 1-0 when the pair clashed at this venue in Serie B back in December and they have won their last three home games.

Venezia finished third overall but they only had the sixth best road record in the division, losing seven of their 19 trips. They have two defeats in their last three away and were perhaps fortunate to win 1-0 at Palermo in the previous round.

Tight game expected

A 2-1 win for the hosts is the correct score prediction as clean sheets have been an issue for Cremonese and they have managed just one shut-out in their last eight games at the Stadio Giovanni Zini. Meanwhile, Venezia’s last five defeats have all been by one-goal margins and they have scored in all of those losses – so they can keep this tie in the balance by keeping it close on Thursday even if they do slip to a defeat.

Veteran midfielder Franco Vazquez has been unable to match his goalscoring exploits of the previous two seasons with Parma since switching to Cremonese, but he has hit some form at the right time with three goals in his last four games. One of those strikes came in a 2-1 defeat at Venezia in April and the former Sevilla man looks a good contender for a goal in this Serie B play-off clash.