New blood, renewed ambition. Sampdoria are looking a different side after hitting the reset button in January.

A rocky first half of the season – which saw the club endure a 14-match winless run and get rid of two head coaches – forced the powers that be into action and a huge squad overhaul.

Since the turn of the year there has been just one defeat for the Blucerchiati, and two victories on the bounce has seen them go from looking over their shoulder to harbouring hope of a promotion push.

Fresh faces have played their part, with new striker M’Baye Niang grabbing the winner against Modena last time out at the Stadio Luigi Ferraris. They are still just a point above the relegation play-out places, but the five-point gap to the final promotion play-off spot doesn’t feel quite as insurmountable on the back of consecutive wins.

“You have to be ambitious,” Sampdoria head coach Leonardo Semplici said ahead of Saturday’s game.

“But I believe that at this moment it is premature to make promises beyond our possibilities. We are growing, we are improving but it is up to us, performance after performance, to begin to understand what our goal could be.

“It’s clear that we have to be ambitious, and I am trying to transfer my ambition to this group of guys because we want to go up.

“At the same time it is premature to make promises about what our possibilities are. It’s up to us, performance after performance, to understand what our goal is.

“The only promise that can be made is to continue working, head down, until the end and that our fans are satisfied with what we manage to put on the field in the games. Let’s stay with our feet on the ground, let’s think about tomorrow’s game because we face a team that, like us, is going through a difficult time.”

While Sampdoria have turned a corner, Sudtirol’s position still appears precarious. The relief of two victories in a row was checked by their loss at Cremonese last weekend.

They still sit in the bottom three, but victory on Saturday would take them above their opponents in the table. Aspiration and survival can often have the same appearance in a division of such fine margins.

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