Palermo ready to enhance their title credentials

Serie B
7.30pm Thursday

Palermo are making a decent fist of bouncing back from relegation at the first attempt and can cement first place in Serie B by beating mid-table Salernitana in the Sicilian capital.

It is quite tight at the top end with eight points covering the first ten places.

Eleventh-placed Salernitana are ten points off the pace and have been draw specialists - sharing the spoils in 11 of their 20 matches.

They have lost just four times but three of those have been inflicted during the last five matches.

Last Thursday Stefani Colantuono's side lost 3-0 at home to relegation-threatened Foggia and a big improvement is needed if they are to have a chance in one of their toughest fixtures of the campaign.

Salernitana have kept just one clean sheet in their last 12 games and their dip in performance looks great news for a Palermo side looking to increase the pressure on promotion rivals.

Palermo had a miserable time in Serie A last season, winning just six of 38 games, but they have held on to their better players, including right wing-back Andrea Rispoli and striker Ilija Nestorovski.

The Sicilians have the joint-best defence in Serie B - alongside fourth-placed Parma - and Nestorovski has flourished in attack, scoring ten goals in 13 matches.

The Macedonian forward has missed the last four games through injury but Palermo have coped well, taking eight points from a possible 12.

After a shaky start (three wins in the first ten league games) Palermo seem to be warming to the task of winning promotion and look solid odds-on favourites to net another three points.

Recommendation
Palermo
1pt 3-4 bet365, Betway

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