Next Saturday, 21st of February 2015, a Sampdoria deeply hurt in their pride will entertain their neighbours and all-time rivals of Genoa at Stadio Luigi Ferraris for round 24 of the Italian Serie A. The two Genovese teams will measure forces at the Derby della Lanterna with the same amount of points at the league table, something that serves to spice what is usually a tremendously frantic clash even further.

Last Sunday, Sampdoria suffered another sour defeat at Serie A at the expenses of the relegation-threatened Chievo Verona and dropped several places in the league table because of that defeat. La Samp started the match off on the left foot and with just two minutes played, Chievo was already on the lead thanks to a goal by Mariano Izco. The Genovese team tried to bounce back and although they have created several chances to score, it was Chievo that grabbed the second on a quick counter-attack movement that Meggiorini finished with perfection, passing the ball through a hopeless Viviano on the 39 minute of the match.

Sinisa Mihajlovic, who was certainly not happy with his team’s performance, tried to change the course of the match and, in the beginning of the second-half, launched Luis Muriel to replace Joaquin Correa and it was indeed the Colombian forward who brought back Sampdoria into the match when he reduced the disadvantage on the injury time after an excellent assist by the erratic Samuel Eto’o. Two minutes after Muriel’s goal, the Cameroonian striker almost leveled the score after a solo effort that passed very close to Bizzarri’s crossbar.

Sampdoria are definitely going through a very negative period and a defeat at the Derby della Lanterna would inflict an almost fatal blow in Sinisa Mihajlovic’s team aspirations.

As for Genoa, the Grifone are once again back on track and their last two wins and respective performances are the living proof of that. Last weekend, Genoa snatched a solid 5-2 home win over Verona, something that helped them reach their neighbours and all-time rivals of Sampdoria at the league table. The Gian Piero Gasperini’s boys seem to be rejuvenated after a long and painful eight-match period without a single win and they will certainly do everything within their reach to secure their third win in a row against Samp next Saturday.

There are no favourites for a derby where both teams play at home (the Stadio Luigi Ferraris serves as home ground for both sides) but if we have in mind Genoa’s recent performances, it is fair to give them slight favouritism for next Saturday’s clash.

Sampdoria

Stats: W-0 L-3 D-2

Recent Form - LDLDL

Genoa

Stats: W-2 L-1 D-2

Recent Form - WWDLD

Possible Line-ups

Sampdoria (4-3-1-2) - Viviano - De Silvestri - Silvestre - Romagnoli - Mesbah - Obiang - Palombo - Duncan - Soriano - Eder - Eto’o

Genoa (3-4-2-1) - Perin - Roncaglia - De Maio - Izzo - Bertolacci - Edenilson - Kucka - Bergdich - Falque - Niang - Perotti

Prediction

Sampdoria 1 Genoa 1