Genoa vs Fiorentina Prediction: 10/1 Kean at the double for Viola

Fiorentina have the chance to prove their credentials at the top end of the Serie A table on Thursday night when they travel to the Stadio Luigi Ferraris to face Genoa (kick-off 17:30 BST, 18:30 local).

The Viola have lost just one game all season, and have scored 15 goals in their last three matches as they need to Liguria to face the bottom side in the league. Here are my Genoa vs Fiorentina predictions.

Team News

Alberto Gilardino is under pressure at Genoa due to the poor start to his team’s season, but the signing of former Italy international Mario Balotelli is evidence of their need for something drastic amid an injury crisis.

Junior Messias, Mattia Bani, Ruslan Malinovskyi, Pierluigi Gollini and Vitinha are all absentees as the Grifone look to get their campaign on track without some of their key stars.

There’s a good news/bad news element ahead of this game too, with skipper Milan Badelj back in the running after shaking off a muscle injury but Caleb Ekuban and Koni De Winter both likely to join the missing list.

Balotelli is unlikely to start given his lack of football in the five-and-a-half months since he last appeared for Adana Demirspor in the Turkish Super Lig, so Andrea Pinamonti should once again lead the Genoa line.

Fiorentina boss Raffaele Palladino is not exactly without his personnel issues, although against the backdrop of five straights wins his problems don’t really match up to former Italy team-mate Gilardino’s.

Palladino is missing Albert Gudmundsson against his parent club and Rolando Mandragora, who is also a former Genoa star. Marin Pongracic is out as well with injury.

There’s another blow in the potential absence of Pietro Comuzzo, who was so impressive in the 5-1 win over Roma last time out.

Genoa vs Fiorentina Odds

In-form Fiorentina are the massive favourites to win this one, with Betfred’s 4/6 price for an away win probably on the generous side if anything.

Genoa are 4/1 to pick up a much-needed three points, with the draw available at 3/1.

Fancy both teams to score? That’s posted at 10/11, which implies a 52.4% probability.

Over 3.5 Total Goals @ 5/2

Fiorentina have, let’s say, not taken it easy on opponents in recent times. Their five-game winning run in October began with 2-0 win over The New Saints in the Conference League, which was then followed by a statement 2-1 victory against Milan in Serie A to end a streak of one victory in six matches to start the league campaign.

Since then, they have taken off. They were 6-0 winners at lowly Lecce, then went to St Gallen in Europe and recorded a 4-2 success. And last time out came that thrilling 5-1 win over Roma, with Mario Hermoso’s red card for the Giallorossi coming long after the result was in doubt with the Viola already 4-1 to the good.

In Genoa they face a side down on its luck. The Rossoblu are struggling to get their best players on the pitch, with €23 milllion worth of summer signings currently out injured (De Winter £8m and Vitinha €15m). They also can’t seem to stop the leak at the back, with 15 goals conceded in their last five games.

The home side are not without a cutting edge themselves at times, they just find it very hard to make a big bunch of chances of late. On the other side of the coin, Fiorentina look like they could score every time they have the ball.

That adds up to a potential high-scoring encounter, with the Viola very likely to outscore their hosts by multiple goals. However it shakes out, I can well see four or more hitting the back of the net at the Marassi.

Football Odds

Moise Kean to score two or more @ 10/1

Ah, Moise Kean. The child star at Juventus. Youngest player in the Bianconeri’s history and first player born in the 2000s to play Champions League football.

He looked ready to be a superstar for club and country, until his £25m move to Everton brought just two league goals in 32 games and it took a loan spell to Paris Saint-Germain to resurrect his reputation.

But his return to Juve didn’t all go to plan, partly due to injury, and it has been the move to Fiorentina this summer which has seen him finally look like that superstar forward once more.

He’s netted seven goals in 12 matches, including three in three in Europe, and was twice on the mark against Roma at the weekend. And while his career thus far hasn’t been a story of consistent brilliance, it has been punctuated by spells of success.

The 24-year-old looked red hot on Sunday, and I’m backing him to go again with a couple of goals against an ailing Genoa in what could be another one-sided encounter.

What is for certain is that the Grifone give up chances. The Viola also make a lot of them. And if Kean gets the service, he can really make hay. The anytime goalscorer bet at 7/4 is a bit on the low side for me, but there’s great value to be had in backing him to score more than once at 10/1.

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