Italy celebrates Workers’ Day on May 1 and if ever there was a time for Juve Stabia and Catanzaro to knuckle down and put in a shift, this is it.

In the race for a top-eight finish, just two points separate the Stabians in fifth and their opponents on this holiday Thursday, who are seventh.

The Wasps were stung last time out when a 2-0 defeat by Sudtirol brought a five-match unbeaten run to an end, while Catanzaro lost 3-1 at home to Palermo, another side right in the thick of the battle.

A top-two finish and automatic ticket to Serie A has long been out of reach but a second straight promotion remains a possibility for Juve Stabia.

They have never competed in the top flight and getting there through the play-offs would be a fairytale ending to what is already one of the stories of the season.

Andrea Adorante has been key to this tale with 14 goals in 30 games but he missed the trip to face Sudtirol at the weekend. A muscle injury kept him on the sidelines and he remains a doubt for this one.

Adorante’s side have scored 39 times this season and no team in the top half of the table has fewer. But if there is reason for optimism for the hosts it’s that Catanzaro have the leakiest defence of the teams occupying the play-off places, with 41 goals conceded.

Like Guido Pagliuca’s side, Catanzaro have been punching above their weight in 2024-25 and Pietro Iemmello has been landing the heavy blows.

He is one of three players ahead of Adorante in the race to be Serie B’s leading scorer – alongside Sassuolo’s Armand Lauriente and Spezia’s on-loan forward Francesco Pio Esposito – having helped himself to 16 goals in 31 games.

Iemmello has drawn a blank in his last two outings after hitting three in three before that, and a return to scoring form would be timely with four games left of the regular season.

They are without a win in their last four and have just one victory to their name in seven games since a 1-0 victory over Spezia at the end of February. Even then, it came against bottom-of-the-table Cosenza.

Manager Fabio Caserta said after the Palermo match: “Mentally, we are not going through a good moment… we are not happy. There are four games left and we need everybody to contribute. When we lose, everybody hurts but this team has demonstrated over the course of the season they play for the jersey and the city.”

Catanzaro will be missing captain Nicolo Brighenti on Thursday as he serves a one-match ban after picking up a 10th yellow card against Palermo, but the defender will be back for the visit of Sampdoria and trips to face Sassuolo and Mantova.

After this one, Juve Stabia face three teams fighting for their lives at the other end of the table, travelling to Brescia before entertaining Reggiana and Sampdoria.

Watch Juve Stabia vs Catanzaro LIVE and FREE this Thursday at 11:30am BST on tv.destinationcalcio.com or on our app. Download to your Android or Apple device today.