HELLAS VERONA

League position: 19th
Head coach: Salvatore Bocchetti
Serie A top scorer: Thomas Henry, Josh Doig (both two)

RECENT FORM

VERONA: L L L L L
ROMA: W D W L W

Since replacing Gabriele Cioffi in the Verona dugout, Bocchetti has seen his team collect two league defeats - taking their run of successive losses to six in Serie A.

That poor run of form leaves them second bottom going into Matchday 12, but were they to claim victory over Roma on Monday night, Verona could move out of the bottom three.

The Giallorossi haven’t managed back-to-back wins in all competitions since mid-September, with inconsistency and a packed schedule halting their momentum in the past month or so.

Injuries to key men Paulo Dybala and Gini Wijnaldum haven’t helped the Roma cause, either, and the trio of Zeki Celik, Roger Ibanez and Nemanja Matic add even more heft to that injury list - although all three could be back in contention on Monday night.

Possible Verona line-up

(3-4-1-2)

Montipo; Hien, Gunter, Ceccherini; Faraoni, Tameze, Veloso, Depaoli; Verdi; Henry, Piccoli

LAST MEETING

DANGER MAN
Thomas Henry

The Gialloblu have found goals hard to come by this season - scoring just 10 so far, albeit that number is the highest in the bottom five of the division.

They’ve so far lacked an out-and-out goal-getter, which they thought they had in the shape of Henry.

The Frenchman scored in each of Verona’s first two outings of the season, but has failed to find the back of the net since.

If they can get the 28-year-old up and running, Verona’s fortunes may soon turn around.

MATCH STATS

Verona’s six defeats in a row is the third such sequence in their Serie A history and, on the other two occasions it happened - 2018 and 1979 - they also lost the seventh game.

At this same stage last season, Verona had 15 points and their 10 point drop this time around (they have five) is the biggest negative points difference of any team from 2021-22 to 2022-23.

Roma have picked up five wins and two draws in their last seven Serie A fixtures against teams starting the day in one of the bottom three.

The Giallorossi are coming off the back of three consecutive away wins in the top-flight and are seeking their fourth such victory for the first time since Serie A’s 2019-20 edition.

PLAYER STATS

• Roma are one of only three teams against which Marco Davide Faraoni has scored at least two goals in Serie A (the others being AC Milan and Napoli):
  
• When these sides last met, Edoardo Bove and Cristian Volpato both scored their first and only goals to date in Serie A.
  
• Roger Ibanez, Gianluca Mancini and Rui Patricio are the only three players to have started all 11 of Roma’s league games so far this season.
  
• Marash Kumbulla emerged from the club’s academy and played 28 times for Verona before joining Roma in 2020.

WHAT THEY SAID

“Roma are a very strong team, with great players. They have their own style of play, they make good use of the characteristics of the attackers and the wingers at their disposal.

“They had some difficulties at the beginning of the season scoring-wise, but I expect to face a strong team. Mourinho is a great coach, a legend that anyone who starts training like me can only admire and learn from.”

- Bocchetti on the eve of the game