Genoa vs Virtus Entella Predictions

Things haven’t exactly been going well for Genoa of late; they’ve failed to win any of their last eight matches, six of which they’ve lost, while they come into this off the back of a 2-1 defeat away at Torino. However, this match against third-tier opposition presents the hosts with the perfect opportunity to bounce back and regain some confidence.

There can be no denying that Genoa are going through a rough patch at the minute. Ivan Jurić’s men have been struggling of late, though some of their performances at home have been encouraging, while they’ve already delivered a commanding victory over lower-level opposition in the Coppa Italia this season. In the previous round, Genoa welcomed second-tier Lecce to Stadio Luigi Ferraris and cruised to a 4-0 victory. On that occasion, the Serie A side exerted control, as they clocked 23 shots at goal and emerged victorious with 2.71 expected goals for. A similar performance against inferior opponents here would likely see Jurić’s men gain a confidence-boosting win.

In addition to their performance in the previous round, Genoa have delivered some promising performances on their own patch in Serie A this season. Thursday’s hosts have lost just twice at home, while their underlying numbers are respectable. Jurić’s men are averaging 1.44 expected goals for, while they’re giving up just 1.08 at the other end. Furthermore, if they repeat their efforts when clocking 2.15 expected goals against Sampdoria in their most recent home match, then the visitors won’t stand much of a chance on Thursday evening.

Away from home in their own division, Entella have done well this season, though such form doesn’t exactly count for much ahead of an away match against top-tier opponents. Moreover, in recent years, Thursday’s visitors have found it tough when visiting Serie-A teams in this competition. In 2016, they were beaten 3-0 away against Chievo, while their trip to face Cagliari a year before that ended in a 5-0 defeat.

If we consider the fact that Genoa have actually played well at home this season, coupled with the fact that Entella have struggled away against top-tier sides in previous years, add in the fact that the hosts made light work of both creating chances and scoring goals against second-tier opponents in the last round, then it becomes very easy to make a case for ‘Genoa to Score Over 2.5 Goals’, which all things considered, appears to be a tad overpriced.