Sampdoria vs Catania preview - De Canio calls for calm

Catania coach Luigi De Canio has insisted his players are keeping their cool ahead of Sunday's match at Sampdoria.

The Sicilians travel to Genoa looking to avoid a third consecutive defeat this weekend having lost to Torino and AC Milan in the last two rounds.

Last weekend's 3-1 defeat to AC Milan left Catania at the foot of the standings, three points from safety.

"I am convinced we can do well on Sunday," De Canio said. "We will go to Genoa to play a great match.

"We have just been missing the end results as our performances have not been lacking.

"Sunday's game is very important for us and I'm confident my players will give their all to bring home three points."

Catania will be nowhere near full strength with a total of five players out injured while midfield pair Panagiotis Tachtsidis and Pablo Barrientos must serve a one-match ban this weekend.

The Islanders, who have won just one of their last eight league games, will have to show a vast improvement at the defensive end.

Catania have given away seven goals in their last two league games.

Rivals Sampdoria secured their first win under coach Sinisa Mihajlovic in Thursday's 4-1 triumph against Hellas Verona to progress to the last 16 of the Coppa Italia.

The outcome followed back-to-back 1-1 results against Lazio and Inter Milan.

Samp lie 19th in the standings, one point from safety and two clear of Catania.

The Blucerchiati will be desperate to clinch their first Serie A win since a 1-0 victory over Atalanta in round nine.

"The team needed a boost in confidence and I think I have given courage to the group," said Mihajlovic, who replaced Delio Rossi at Samp last month.

"We must continue to work hard.

"We are on the right path and now we need to try to get three points on Sunday."