Verona vs Roma Betting Tips

It’s fair to say that Roma have had the better of this fixture in the last two seasons since Verona’s return to top flight football. They’ve won 3-0, 3-1 and 2-0, with Verona’s best result being a 1-1 draw last February.

Verona’s big summer addition was Giampaolo Pazzini, a questionable move considering he is likely to alternate with fellow striker Luca Toni. There are reasons to be a little concerned about Verona’s defence and midfield in a league that has traditionally been based on possession football, good defensive rigidity and quality goal-keeping.

Toni has scored 42 league goals in two seasons with Verona and all eyes will once again be on the target man. However, he is already 38 years old and while a few valuable younger additions were brought in, Verona’s direction is still a little questionable.

Verona enter the season knowing that their goals should keep them out of the bottom three, but with Toni’s career winding down, longer-term stability will need to be ensured based on better all-round talent.

Roma brought some good players in through the transfer market and via loan. They look like a club that is capable of giving Juventus a tougher run for their money, but the title race is expected to be difficult overall with Lazio, Inter Milan and AC Milan all expecting to have improved.

The midfield in particular looks stacked with players that can control the football, but also push the pace in attack. Miralem Pjanic, Daniele De Rossi, Radja Nainggolan and Kevin Strootman are a quartet of high quality players. Manager Rudi Garcia has opportunities to work around that group and they will be very difficult to beat.

We expect Verona to get on the scoresheet, but their past record against Roma isn’t good and they haven’t enjoyed the greatest of preseasons. Meanwhile, Roma look like a team ready to make a move, they’ll be hungry and they should come into this contest full of confidence.

Roma’s defence might have difficulty containing the powerful Toni, but they should control the flow of the game and they will get their chances to score. Our betting tips anticipate a relatively assured 2-1 victory.