Genoa v Palermo match preview

Following Wednesday's draw against AC Milan, Genoa finds itself solidified in fourth place of the Serie A table on the avails of a nine match unbeaten streak. However as Palermo visits Stadio Luigi Ferraris on Sunday they will equally be dealing with a side in the midst of a upswing as they won their opening three matches in January before falling to Roma on Wednesday.

Under Davide Ballardini, the Rosanero have continuously showed inspired play but that should not be a surprise given the tactical genius he showed whilst leading Cagliari last season. There attacking trident of Australian international Mark Bresciano and São Paulo product Fábio Simplício, service Edison Cavani into one the more intriguing units. This could change considerably as they might move from their preferred to 4-3-2-1 formation into more defensive positioning. One option that lays in their managers bag of tricks is use of a counter attack laden 3-5-2 that he has used in the past and rumoured to be considering but that remains to be seen.

For the match Gian Piero Gasperini welcomes back key defender Matteo Ferrari from the sin-bin but will miss Thiago Motta, Andrea Gasbarroni, Matteo Paro, Alessio Scarpi and Alessandro Potenza to injury. With the continued solid play of its attacking group Grifone will go forward with Giuseppe Sculli, Diego Milito and former Crvena zvezda man Boško Janković up top.

Finally, in what might be the biggest clue of the match, Genoa has yet to lose a match at home this year whilst Palermo has only won once away from their beautiful Sicilian home. Given that Roma is playing troubled Reggina and the same time and only one point behind Genoa, a victory is an absolute must if they are to maintain their position in the table.