Andriy Shevchenko will look to get the second win of his managerial career in club football as his Genoa side welcome title-chasing Atalanta to the Stadio Luigi Ferraris with the Bergamo outfit sat 15 places above the relegation-fighting home team.
It has been a torrid time for the Ukraine legend with Genoa since taking the helm back in early November, with five defeats coming and just the one win and one draw so far.
🔴🔵🎙 Le parole di mister #Shevchenko al termine di #LazioGenoa pic.twitter.com/lmMVzESN8b— Genoa CFC (@GenoaCFC) December 17, 2021
🔴🔵🎙 Le parole di mister #Shevchenko al termine di #LazioGenoa pic.twitter.com/lmMVzESN8b
Worse yet, since Shevchenko came into the post, they've failed to win a single league game after losing to Roma, AC Milan, Juventus, as well as even losing the Derby della Lanterna to rivals Sampdoria 3-1.
A goalless draw with Udinese also came in this time too, with the only win coming against fellow relegation fighters, Salernitana, as Shevchenko’s men won 1-0 thanks to a goal from Caleb Ekuban which saw Genoa advance into the next round of the Coppa Italia.
Following a dreadful period under the Milan legend, the club have now lost 10 games and drawn seven in Serie A, with the only win in the league coming all the way back in September against, once again, a team just next to them in the table, Cagliari.
Moreover, Only Spezia, Salernitana, and Cagliari have conceded more than Genoa's 37 let in from 18 games this season. On a slightly brighter note, they are the highest scorers from the bottom five all battling it out for survival with 19 goals thus far.
As for Atalanta, their title challenge took a humbling this past week as they were brought back down to earth when they were thrashed 4-1 on home soil against Roma.
Tammy Abraham got Jose Mourinho's men off to a flying start, and despite Bryan Cristante’s own goal bringing Atalanta back into the game before half time, two more goals towards the end from English duo, Abraham and Chris Smalling, put them to the sword.
Nevertheless, the Bergamo side are still within six points of league leaders and champions, Inter Milan, and this might just be a mere blip as Atalanta have been in excellent form in December with a 3-2 win away to Napoli and a hard-fought victory over Hellas Verona also coming.
Gian Piero Gasperini’s men should return to winning ways here and Forebet predicts a win for the title chasers in a game that will see over 2.5 goals as Atalanta have scored 38 goals in 18 games already in Serie A - this is one more goal than Genoa have actually let in.