Next Sunday, 28th of September 2014, Genoa and Sampdoria will measure forces at Stadio Luigi Ferraris on the Derby della Lanterna for Round 5 of the Serie A, a match that will almost certainly be one of the most entertaining for the weekend to come at the Italian football.

Sampdoria have been enjoying a fairly good season start. Sinisa Mihajlovic’s men are still undefeated after four matches and they have only conceded two goals so far. The former UEFA Cup winners started the new campaign with a draw at Palermo but they granted a fairly important win on the following round when they entertained Torino at Stadio Luigi Ferraris.

Last Tuesday, la Samp overcomed Chievo Verona at home on a match during which they controlled almost every aspect of the game. With almost 60% of ball possession and sixteen goal attempts, Sampdoria could have won for a bigger margin but a late goal from Paloschi narrowed down the difference between the two sides.

Sinisa Mihajlovic, who has only arrived at the team last season, is beyond any doubts one of main culprits behind la Samp’s recent improvements. The Serbian manager, who replaced Delio Rossi on November 2013, found a team lacking the charisma and irreverence that characterized them, especially in the late 1980s and in the early 1990s, a team striving for success, and slowly, he has been restoring the ambition and winning mentality that was lost somewhere in time.

For the Genoa city derby of the weekend, Mihajlovic will probably still not be able to rely on the contribution of Michele Fornasier and Alessandro de Vitis, both sidelined due to injury.

As for Genoa, they have only managed to win once so far this season: it was on round three when they defeated Lazio at Stadio Luigi Ferraris. Over the week, Gian Piero Gasperini’s boys conceded their second draw of the season against Verona, another team that, like Sampdoria, still keep an undefeated tab this term.

The Grifone had the match in their hands as they were winning 2-0 on the 48th minute, thanks to two goals by Alessandro Matri, who is currently on loan from AC Milan, but they allowed Verona to make a strong comeback and in just twelve minutes time the latter scored twice, by Tachtsidis and Ionita.

When both sides went head-to-head at Stadio Luigi Ferraris last term, with Genoa as hosts, Sampdoria won 1-0 thanks to a goal by Maxi Lopez, who is no longer at la Samp. Although Sinisa Mihajlovic’s men seem to be enjoying a fairly more positive moment than their rivals, one cannot name any favourites for the next Sunday’s derby, due to the immense rivalry between these two historical Italian sides.

Genoa

Stats: W-2 L-1 D-2

Recent Form - DWDLW

Sampdoria

Stats: W-3 L-0 D-2

Recent Form - WDWDW

Possible Line-ups

Genoa (3-4-2-1) - Perin - Roncaglia - De Maio - Antonini - Rosi - Sturaro - Bertolacci - Marchese - Falque - Lestienne - Matri

Sampdoria (4-3-1-2) - Viviano - Cacciatore - Romagnoli - Gastaldello - Mesbah - Krsticic - Rizzo - Marchionni - Soriano - Bergessio - Okaka

Prediction

Genoa 0 Sampdoria 1