Serie A: Two clever ideas to win the opening game of the round

Bologna and Genoa are both enjoying great seasons, so let’s take a look at the predictions for their meeting.

Even if it is not clear that the 19th round of Serie A will start with a match between two surprise teams, both Bologna and Genoa will have big smiles on their faces when looking at the standings. Anything can happen in a match between the home side, who are in the hunt for a place in the Champions League, and the visitors, who are pulling off a string of surprises.

While Bologna’s season has been a parabolic one, Genoa’s this year has been nothing short of surreal. They have scored 20 points in 18 games, almost half of which have come against the top teams in the league. As guests, however, Alberto Gilardino’s boys are not really brilliant, with the success against Sassuolo breaking a nice long streak, but still only 7 points scored are to the name of the industrialists.

As poor as Genoa’s away record is, Bologna’s home record is frenetic, and Napoli, Lazio, Roma and Atalanta have all failed to win at the Dell’Ara, with no team even scoring a goal. This means that Bologna have only 1 defeat in their last 16 games at home, having conceded a total of 8 goals in those games.

Thiago Motta is in an enviable position, as only Dan Ndoye is injured, while Zirkzee, who has been great this season, has recovered from his injury and could be in the starting line-up. The other side’s star striker Retegui is a question mark, so it remains to be seen whether Gila can be thrown into the starting line-up, although he did come on for 30 minutes against Inter at the end of the year.

There are several directions to go, but leave the 1×2 markets alone. Bologna’s 0-3 in Udine could even cause a break, while Genoa could also pull off a major upset, so they will have scoring chances in Bologna. too.

However, the low scoring is almost coded, especially as only the two big guns at home, Inter and Juventus, have had fewer goals, so the 1.75 to 2.0 odds line on goals is justified. In addition to our smart tip on goals, we also have a very safe idea that would only lose if Bologna, who are tough at home (too), win the game 0-1 with a yellow card.