Italy. Serie B — Tips and bets

Which one of these two sides will make it to the top flight next season? The Serie B promotion playoffs have been whittled down from six to two, leaving Cittadella and Hellas Verona fighting for a top-flight place. The pair have defied the odds to be here, but they are aiming for one last push to make it into to the top flight. So, will it be the hosts who take the first leg advantage, or can Hellas Verona boost their chances of an immediate return to top flight football?

Cittadella come into the final as the outsiders, especially given that they’re away from home in the second leg. On top of that, they’ve never made it into the top flight before, so this would be an incredible feat for the hosts to get over the line in this week’s playoff final. They are aiming to build on a solid campaign which saw them finish in seventh place, bumped up from eighth thanks to the penalties applied to Palermo.

Hellas Verona finished just a place ahead of Cittadella, so it’s set to be a tight tie, despite the Verona side approaching this clash as the favourites. They make this trip just two games from a speedy return to Serie A. Last term they finished 19th in the top flight, but Verona are pushing to bounce back. They have the chance to become Verona’s sole side in the top division, with Chievo disappointing as they were dumped out of Serie A this term. Will Hellas Verona pass their old rivals in their move up the ranks?

With a single goal lead, Salernitana should be worried. They lost 11 of their 18 away trips this term, winning only twice on the road. A draw would do them here, but losing over half of their games on their travels suggests that’s a tall order too. Meanwhile, 75% of Venezia’s wins came at his ground, while they lost only four times in front of their home support. The side from Venice lost none of their meetings with fellow bottom seven sides here, winning three of their four games with sides beneath them – including that win over Salernitana.

Venezia have won to nil in four of the last six meetings between these two at this ground. Meanwhile, they’re hosting a side who have lost their last seven matches on the spin away from home, which suggests they’ll struggle here. Salernitana lost all but one of their trips to teams in the bottom six, so we think that Venezia to win represents great value ahead of Sunday’s clash.

This clash will be crucial, especially as Cittadella have to bounce back from a defeat in the home leg of the last round. Cittadella were able to win 3-0 away to Benevento in their last game, while they have put together a strong record at home this season. They were able to win nine of their 18 home games, which includes a 3-0 hammering of Verona here in their meeting earlier this month.

Meanwhile, Verona were beaten in seven of their away trips, with their record on the road letting them down overall. They head into this clash with five defeats in their last six trips to the Walled City. We are backing that run to continue, as we see Cittadella taking a first-leg lead on Thursday. A home win is our tip for this clash, as we don’t expect Verona to turn around this month’s defeat here in a hurry.