Lazio vs Venezia Predictions

• Lazio won 10 of their 19 home games last season.
• Venezia won promotion via the play-offs.
• Lazio finished the season with an eight-game unbeaten run (W5, D3).

New era for Lazio

Lazio go into the new season with a new manager in place as Marco Baroni has taken charge, and they face promoted Venezia in the opening round of Serie A games on Sunday.

Baroni managed to get the best out of a poor Verona side last term as they survived the drop, finishing in the relative comfort of 13th place, but he faces a different sort of challenge at Lazio – as a top four spot will be the aim.

Lazio should be able to get off to a winning start against a Venezia side who needed the play-offs to escape Serie B last season. Venezia came third in the final table but only had the sixth best road record in the second tier, and their results at home will define their season rather than trips to the big guns.

Lazio were generally good at home last term with 10 wins in 19 games. They also boasted an impressive defensive record with just 14 goals conceded so a home win to nil looks a good way to get some value out of backing the clear favourites.

A 2-0 home win is the correct score pick as Venezia will probably line-up to keep it tight here and it may take the Biancocelesti a while to break down the visitors, but they have enough quality to get the job done.

Taty Castellanos only managed four goals in 35 league games for Lazio last season, a poor return considering the Argentine managed 13 for Girona in the previous campaign, but he has looked sharp in pre-season with four goals in five games and he looks the best scorer option.