Early high-flyers Lecce welcome newly-promoted Genoa to the Stadio Via del Mare in Serie A on Friday night.
Roberto D'Aversa has led his Lecce side to fourth after four games, occupying one of the Champions League places currently.
Match preview
© Reuters
Lecce enter the weekend as just one of three sides still unbeaten in Serie A this season, along with Inter Milan and Juventus.
It is just the third time in their top-flight history that Lecce have gone unbeaten in their first four matches.
However, an ominous statistic is that they have never remained unbeaten after five matches, so there is a new record on the line here.
With Juventus and Napoli to come after this encounter, the tests will get extremely tougher too, so D'Aversa has a real task on his hands to keep the side up in the top four.
Nikola Krstovic has played a big role in getting them there so far, scoring three in three games since arriving from Dunajska Streda, as well as one for Montenegro during the international break.
The forward netted another two earlier in the campaign before joining Lecce late in the summer, after scoring 26 in Slovakia last season.
Lecce have won both of their games here at the Via del Mare this season against Lazio and Salernitana, while drawing both away, picking up notable results at Fiorentina and Monza.
The Monza result last week was undoubtedly the most hard-fought, as Federico Baschirotto's 55th-minute red card gave Lecce an uphill task to hold on.
Despite conceding 25 shots to their four, Lecce heroically held on for a point, and maintained their unbeaten start.
© Reuters
Genoa meanwhile, failed to hang on when they hosted Napoli last weekend, squandering a 2-0 lead late on to only pick up one point.
That draw keeps Alberto Gilardino's men marooned in 13th on four points in their first season back in the top flight.
It sums up Genoa's up-and-down start, after being on the end of a thrashing at the hands of Fiorentina, before winning away at Lazio.
A recent defeat at Torino was underwhelming, but Gilardino's side performed very well against Napoli, despite the late collapse.
With Roma and AC Milan up next in their upcoming home games though, Genoa may need to pick some points up on the road in order to avoid slipping towards trouble should they struggle against those two in-form sides.
A positive stat for the visitors to arrive with is that Lecce have often been favourable opponents considering that Genoa have not lost to them in Serie A in over three decades, winning seven and recording five draws.
- W
- D
- W
- D
- W
- W
- D
- W
- D
- L
- W
- L
- D
- W
- L
- W
- L
- D
Team News
© Reuters
Baschirotto's red card last week means Lecce will be without their first-choice central defender here, while Kastriot Dermaku is also absent with a thigh issue.
Nicola Sansone could make his debut for the club as he was an unused substitute last week following his free transfer.
Lecce's new-look midfield has performed well, as Ylber Ramadani, Mohamed Kaba and Hamza Rafia are doing a good job of replacing Morten Hjulmand, who joined Sporting Lisbon.
French duo Remi Oudin and Alexis Blin have lost their places in midfield and have had to settle for cameos so far this season.
Gilardino could bring Ruslan Malinovskyi back in the Genoa side here after going for a slightly more defensive setup for the visit of Napoli.
Koni De Winter came in for his debut at right-back and Turkish midfielder Berkan Kutlu will be hoping for a first start.
Alessandro Vogliacco is out with a thigh injury though, while Junior Messias is yet to feature after moving from Milan because of an ankle problem.
Lecce possible starting lineup:
Falcone; Gendrey, Pongracic, Venuti, Gallo; Kaba, Ramadani, Rafia; Gabriel Strefezza, Krstovic, Sansone
Genoa possible starting lineup:
Josep Martinez; De Winter, Bani, Dragusin, Martin; Sabelli, Badelj, Frendrup; Malinovskyi, Gudmundsson, Retegui
We say: Lecce 1-1 Genoa
Despite never going five games unbeaten at the start of a Serie A season before, Lecce will fancy their chances of setting that new club record here.
Genoa have also shown some very promising signs, especially in games against Lazio and Napoli, and should make this a close, competitive encounter.
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.