Monza vs Spezia prediction: ITALY: Serie A betting tips on match 2022-10-08 13:00.
With Serie A (SA) wins over Juventus and Sampdoria, new Monza manager Raffaele Palladino became the first man since Roberto Donadoni in 2005 with Livorno to win his first two games in charge of a promoted side in the Italian top flight. He’s helped them turn the corner as after losing their first five league games of the season, they’re now three matches unbeaten (W2, D1).
He needs to back up that outstanding start, starting by shoring up their leaky backline that conceded exactly twice in each of their first three home league games of the season (L3) prior to that famous recent win over Juventus. With a good home H2H record against Spezia (W2, D4), they’ll now hope to extend that with a better defensive performance.
However, this will be the first meeting between these two sides since April 2011 so Spezia might not worry too much about the burden of history. However they did create an unwanted record when losing 4-0 to Lazio last time out as Ethan Ampadu conceded the quickest penalty in SA history after just 39 seconds, which set the tone for their heaviest league defeat since October 2021.
They remain the only side across Europe’s top-five leagues still seeking their first away goal of the season too, having lost all four SA away games ‘to nil’ so far, albeit against sides expected to challenge for European qualification. Heading to Monza appears an easier proposition, especially as Spezia were unbeaten away from home against promoted sides last term (W1, D2).
Players to watch: Stefano Sensi has scored twice in Monza’s last three games and hasn’t been on the losing side when scoring in domestic football since September 2017 (W7, D3). Meanwhile, the last four goals Simone Bastoni scored for Spezia were his side’s first of the game.
Hot stat: Monza’s SA games this term produced a joint-league low two goals before the 30th minute.