Preview: Torino vs. Cittadella - prediction, team news, lineups

Their opponents lost to Cagliari at this stage last season, with their best run in the Coppa Italia being in the 2017-18 when they made it to the round of 16, losing to Lazio 4-1.

Match preview

Torino will be hoping that a game in the cup can help them break their streak of five games without a victory, which continued with a narrow 1-0 defeat to local rivals Juventus on Saturday, making it four defeats in their last five games.

Goalscoring has been a problem for Torino this season after losing top scorers from last season Josip Brekalo, who was on loan from Wolfsburg, and Andrea Belotti.

Nikola Vlasic, on loan from West Ham, is their current highest scorer this campaign with just three goals but that is nearly half of the team's total of eight.

Manager Ivan Juric was appointed at the start of last season and guided Torino to an 11th-placed finish, a considerable improvement from the 17th-placed finish of the season before.

Currently sitting mid-table, his position is not under the threat but a good run in the cup could help to enhance his position.

A home win would also please the fans, as they have only won once on their own patch so far this season in the league, with their first round cup game against Palermo bettering the number of goals they have scored in their five home league games.

Serie B Cittadella are also looking for a victory to kickstart their season; they are on a run of four games without a win, with their latest match being a 0-0 draw against SPAL in their opponents' first fixture with a new manager.

Edoardo Gorini's side will have some confidence facing a Serie A opponent again after their 3-2 win against Lecce in the first round and with the fact that Torino are not in the greatest form themselves, this game provides an opportunity to progress further in the Coppa Italia.

However, Cittadella have only picked up two points away from home this season, only scoring twice in four games, so if they are to secure the victory in this fixture they will have to be defensively tight as, like their opponents, they also struggle in front of goal.

Mirko Antonucci and Raul Asencio are the forwards in this team who could provide the most attacking threat to the Torino defence, with both scoring twice so far this season, in an attack which has been far from fluent but has potential.

Torino Coppa Italia form:

W

Torino form (all competitions):

W

L

L

L

D

L

Cittadella Coppa Italia form:

W

Cittadella form (all competitions):

D

W

L

L

D

D

Team News

Ivan Juric could use this game as an opportunity to experiment with the fringe players of his squad or to give his starters some more game time to give them some much-needed confidence.

Striker Antonio Sanabria missed their last fixture against Juventus with slight muscle fatigue so could feature in this fixture against Cittadella but more than likely from the bench.

Nemanja Radonjic replaced him in the last game with Vlasic playing as the central forward and could well maintain his place in the side. Fringe players like Alessandro Buongiorno could also get an opportunity if there is some rotation.

Both Andrea Danzi and Simone Branca were sent off in the last game and therefore will be suspended for the fixture, with Nicola Pavan and Ignacio Lores candidates to come into the team.

There have been some changes in the Cittadella defence over the last two fixtures, with Daniel Donnarumma and Romano Perticone coming into the side in the last game and as they kept a clean sheet, the defence could stay the same.

Torino possible starting lineup:

Milinkovic-Savic; Rodriguez, Schuurs, Djidji; Lazaro, Linetty, Lukic, Aina; Radonjic, Vlasic, Miranchuk

Cittadella possible starting lineup:

Kastrati; Donnarumma, Visentin, Perticone, Vita; Pavan, Lores, Carriero, Antonucci; Asencio, Beretta

We say: Torino 2-0 Cittadella

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