Any lingering chance of Sampdoria being an outside bet to reach the Serie B promotion play-offs faded last weekend in the 1-1 draw with Bari.

Such is the congestion in the middle of the table in Serie B, and the maddening inconsistency of teams not named Sassuolo, Pisa and Spezia, that stringing together three or four consecutive wins could’ve seen the Blucerchiati be in the mix for a top-eight finish.

Leonardo Semplici is slowly starting to turn things around in Genoa. However, he still has his work cut out for him, and the draw in Puglia now means the objective for the season is to avoid relegation and slowly climb up the league table.

Semplici will want to get Samp winning more games – six wins all season isn’t good enough for a team of their quality. 

The draw at the Stadio San Nicola was their 12th of the campaign. Yet Semplici will no doubt be encouraged by the performance from his men, especially M’Baye Niang, who reminded everyone of his quality in scoring Samp’s goal following an excellent cross from Ebenezer Akinsanmiro.

Long gone are the days when Niang was considered a regular starter for AC Milan, but he can still make a valuable contribution to Samp’s bid to survive the drop into Serie C. His finish in Bari was emphatic.

Semplici will be hoping that Niang’s scoring touch can be transmitted to Massimo Coda. Coda, a Serie B veteran and a man who knows his way around the division more than most, has only scored six goals this season and hasn’t found the back of the net since the 1-1 draw with Brescia nearly two months ago.

Coda is becoming less and less of an automatic first choice under Semplici, with the forward last starting a league game in January.

This weekend, Samp welcome a Palermo side also searching for a play-off place, but their target is more realistic.

Palermo are coming off the back of a win against Brescia in Sicily, thanks to a penalty from new signing Joel Pohjanpalo three minutes from the end.

In truth, it would’ve been a travesty had the home side not won, considering the shots and overall pattern of the game. 

Alessio Dionisi’s men dominated and only superb goalkeeping from Rondinelle stopper Luca Lezzerini kept Palermo at bay.

Yet the win was theirs and now all attention will turn to the jaunt up north to Genoa and the Stadio Luigi Ferraris, with 22,000 tickets already sold for the game.

Current Palermo sporting director, Carlo Osti, who spent 11 years in the same position at Samp, believes both sides should be doing better.

“Samp is worth more than 30 points,” he argued this week. “Semplici has made them a team, against Bari they merited the win.

“They’re growing, like Palermo. Today our objective is the play-offs.”

The signing of Pohjanpalo has made a real difference to the Rosanero attack. The Finnish striker’s movement inside the box is clearly Serie A level, and his presence has made the Sicilian’s attack more menacing and unpredictable. Can the former Venezia talisman beat Alessio Cragno?

Palermo have, to this point, been one of the more underperforming sides in the second tier this season. However, as noted, the competitiveness of the League has meant that they’re still in the hunt to reach the play-off places.

Sitting in eighth place, a win could see them leap into sixth should Cesena and Juve Stabia drop points. A win for Sampdoria could see them land as high as 11th.

This is a game between arguably two of the three biggest sides in the league, both sides need a win, and it’s also a battle between two strikers in Niang vs Pohjanpalo. A winner will be difficult to call. 

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