Sampdoria are in desperate need of another jump start when in-form Cremonese arrive at the Marassi on Thursday.

The Blucerchiati were given the kiss of life when Alberico Evani and Attilio Lombardo came in after the sacking of manager Leonardo Semplici earlier this month.

But the win over Cittadella in their first game was followed by defeat at Carrarese and they continue to stare down the barrel towards Serie C.

They sit in 17th place but in the cut-throat race to avoid the drop to the third tier – for the first time in their history – Samp are on the same tally as Cittadella, Reggiana and Brescia, three points from 13th place and six points off 11th.

It is so tight, a couple of wins could be season-saving but since beating Cosenza and Modena at the start of February, they have lost four, drawn four and beaten only Cittadella.

Coach Evani, however, has urged his players to forget about what has gone before and focus only on the run-in.

Speaking shortly after losing to Carrarese, he said: “We will try to change and make assessments. Now we have four games left. I told the boys that in life and in football what we did yesterday no longer counts, now we have to think about the next one. We have to put quality and character beyond that.”

The Grigiorossi, meanwhile, make the trip to Genoa in high spirits. They are seven matches unbeaten since going down at home to Cesena on February 22.

In that run, Norwegian winger Dennis Johnsen has scored four goals and claimed two assists.

Speaking after the 4-2 win over Mantova last time out, he said: “I always try to create chances and score, lately it has been better. We can say that at the beginning the ball didn’t go in, while now it’s the opposite.”

He may have a point. Back in December when the teams met in the reverse fixture, Cremonese had 34 shots to Sampdoria’s six but had to settle for a point from a 1-1 draw. Franco Vazquez was the scorer that day, cancelling out Alessandro Bellemo’s opener.

Johnsen’s team-mate Luca Zanimacchia is taking heart from another previous meeting. The winger was in the team that won 2-1 in this fixture last term, when Johnsen opened the scoring.

He said: “Sampdoria has a great reputation. Marassi is a very important stadium where we played and won last year. We will try to play our game and take home the three points.”

With four games to go they have a six-point gap to fifth-placed Juve Stabia while trailing Spezia in third by four points.

Johnsen added: “We think game by game, there are four left and they are all difficult. The important thing is to maintain this spirit and the winning mentality.”

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