Sampdoria vs Bologna preview - Pioli calls for players to pull together

Bologna head coach Stefano Pioli has issued a rallying cry before Sunday's trip to face Sampdoria after the Rossoblu recorded a long overdue win last weekend.

Samp have also turned a corner, with Ciro Ferrara overseeing a 3-1 victory over fierce rivals Genoa to end a woeful run of seven straight defeats.

A comfortable win over Palermo may have seen Bologna pull three places clear of the relegation zone, but Pioli's men are tied on 11 points with 18th-placed Pescara.

He told La Repubblica: "I'm confident that this is a strong group of players who will come together and fight for the common cause.

"We've made a positive step forward but the league table currently shows us that survival should be our only objective for now.

"We want to reach 40 points as soon as possible and then we should be safe. The championship is really tight and we need to keep giving our all. We'll fight until the end."

Young striker Manolo Gabbiadini opened his goalscoring account for Bologna last weekend and is eager to taste victory again.

He told Corriere dello Sport: "It's always nice to score in Serie A, it was the first penalty I've scored at this level but I felt relaxed and confident.

"We want a repeat performance at the Marassi. It is really important that we find continuity.

"We are a tight group and we are always united, even through tricky times. We made a breakthrough against Palermo and we will win in Genoa."

Four players received their marching orders in a fractious encounter with the Rosanero, but only one was in home colours and midfielder Saphir Taider will miss out against Samp.

Gianluca Curci, Robert Acquafresca and Cesare Natali are training separately in a bid to recover from muscle complaints, while striker Daniele Paponi picked up an unexpected injury in midweek.

Ferrara bought himself some more time in the Sampdoria hotseat by masterminding a famous derby win over Genoa last weekend.

The ex-Juve man said: "I have to thank the fans for how they have treated me over the last few months."

Mauro Icardi and Andrea Poli were on target against Genoa but the duo suffered knocks in training this week.

Midfielder Pedro Obiang wants the spirit of last Sunday to linger, adding: "We are treating the next match as if it was another derby."