Chievo vs Sampdoria preview - Estigarribia out to end drought

Posted Saturday, December 14, 2013 by PA

Chievo midfielder Marcelo Estigarribia is hoping to end his goalscoring drought in Sunday's match against former club Sampdoria.

Estigarribia has featured in 13 games for the Verona outfit this season but has yet to find the back of the net.

"I really hope I can score against Samp," said Estigarribia, who joined Chievo in the summer after a season at Sampdoria.

"To have played for Samp was a fantastic experience for me.

"I played a lot there and I'm still in touch with a lot of the players."

Estigarribia knows his team cannot get carried away by their recent impressive run since the arrival of coach Eugenio Corini last month.

Last weekend's 1-0 triumph at Sassuolo was Chievo's third-straight win and lifted the Flying Donkeys to 15th place.

More impressive is the fact that Chievo kept a clean sheet for their third successive game.

"Corini is someone who works a lot and does not joke around much," Estigarribia said. "We are being rewarded for our efforts.

"But just because we have won three games that doesn't make us invincible. We need to remain humble and continue to play as we are doing."

Rivals Samp go into the encounter in Verona invigorated by last weekend's 2-0 win over Catania.

The outcome was the Blucerchiati's first win in six league games and saw them climb out of the relegation zone and into 16th position, one place and one point adrift of Chievo.

Samp, who had previously held Lazio and Inter Milan to 1-1 draws in the league, have yet to lose under coach Sinisa Mihajlovic.

"We have to thank Mihajlovic," Samp striker Manolo Gabbiadini said. "He has been responsible for turning our fortunes around. He has changed us radically.

"We are much happier with him and we want to continue on this path."

The Genoa outfit had collected just two wins from their opening 12 games before Mihajlovic replaced sacked Delio Rossi at the helm of Samp last month.