Torino Will Look to Continue Their Strong Start to the Season
On Monday night, Torino will host Lecce at the Stadio Olimpico Grande Torino. The club from Turin has started the season very strong winning their first two games of the season. After not qualifying for the group stage of the Europa League, Walter Mazzari has his men focused for a spot in next years Europa League and even possibly Champions League based on their early form this season. Torino comes off a strong 3-2 win versus Atalanta in which the Granata came back from being down 2-1. Throughout the game, Torino looked very strong and consistently created chances. Torino opened the scoring from Keven Bonifazi which was erased from two goals from Atalanta, however, goals from Alex Berenguer and Armando Izzo delivered Torino the win.
As for Lecce, the newly promoted squad has started the season opposite of Torino losing their first two games of the season. Lecce opened their season with a 4-0 loss to Inter and followed it with a 1-0 loss to the newly-promoted squad, Hellas Verona. The team displayed a poor performance in their previous game versus Verona as Fabio Liverani’s men were only able to create two chances. Lecce has struggled to create any chances with their attack and are still without a goal to start the season. The Torino squad, who has looked strong to start the season, will be another difficult matchup for the Giallorossi.
Injuries
Unavailable: Ansaldi (Injured)
Doubtful: Lyanco (Injured), Nkoulou (Injured), Iago Falque (Injured), Zaza (Injured), Edera (Injured)
Lecce
Unavailable: Meccariello (Injured)
Doubtful: Lo Faso (Injured), Fiamozzi (Injured), Imbula (Injured), Dell'Orco (Injured)
Predicted Line-Up
Torino (3-4-2-1): Sirigu; Izzo, Djidji, Bonifazi; De Silvestri, Rincon, Baselli, Aina; Meite, Verdi; Belotti
Lecce (4-3-3): Gabriel; Benzar, Lucioni, Rossettini, Dell'Orco; Petriccione, Tachtsidis, Shakhov; Diego Farias, Lapadula, Mancosu
Key Clash
Andrea Belotti has had a strong start to the season, were he’s shown good form in his first two games with Torino. With Alex Berenguer possibly playing upfront with Bellotti, the two could make it very hard for the visitors. Bellotti scored against Sassuolo in the first game of the season. Although the forward didn’t score in his second game of the season against Atalanta, he had created chances for Torino and continues to work hard.
As for Lecce, the team has been disappointing so far this season with Gianluca Lapadula and Filippo Falco both playing poorly. With Torino’s strong defence which is led by Armando Izzo, it could be another difficult match for Lapadula and Falco if the Torino defence are on form.