Verona vs Pescara Predictions

Wednesday night brings the first leg of the second Serie B playoff semi-final. There are four teams who remain in with a chance of going back up to the top flight. For Hellas Verona, they could sneak back into the top flight after finishing 19th in Serie A last season. Meanwhile, Pescara travel north hoping to score a result which could set them up for the final. Can the visitors secure a result in their visit to Verona this weekend, or are we going to see the hosts record another victory here?

Hellas are desperate to represent Verona in the top flight next season, given that city rivals Chievo have already dropped out of Serie A in disastrous fashion. The Gialloblu are on their way down after a poor season, but Hellas are hoping to bounce back at the first time of asking. The hosts – historically the biggest side in the city – are aiming to restore their top-flight status. They came through a quarter-final clash with Perugia to do it, but how will they fare this week?

The visitors come into the playoffs with a middling record in many regards. They had a solid attacking record, while they were pretty average defensively. They finished the season with a poor away record, but they will be aiming to cause problems for a Verona side who have just survived extra time at the weekend. That could turn around the visitors’ issues on the road, having taken two points from their last six trips.

Pescara’s away form is even worse, with a little more scrutiny – they lost six of eight clashes against Serie B’s top nine teams this season. That includes a 3-1 defeat at this ground earlier in the campaign. Meanwhile, Hellas were able to win against four of the top nine, something they repeated after blitzing Perugia 4-1 in extra time. They should expect to get more goals here, having found the net in 89% of their home matches, while scoring 30 goals in 18.

Pescara only managed three away wins, but they aren’t a side lacking goals. They scored 22 times on the road, finding the net in 78% of their games. The visitors were able to score in both meetings with Verona, with five of their last six head to head meetings seeing both teams find the back of the net. Given that 72% of Verona’s home games and 72% of Pescara’s trips saw both teams score, we are backing BTTS as our tip here.