Venezia welcome Palermo to Pier Luigi Penzo Stadium in the second leg of the Serie B promotion playoff on Friday

After a 1-0 win away from home in the first leg, Venezia have a massive advantage over Palermo in the Serie B promotion play-off semi-finals. The second leg will be played at the Stadio Pier Luigi Penzo in Venice on Friday. In the first leg played in Palermo, a 62nd-minute goal by Nicholas Pierini gave Venezia a 1-0 win. Having finished third in the regular season, they now have a massive advantage over the sixth-placed Palermo. If the teams are tied on aggregate, being higher-placed, Venezia advances to the final, where they will face either Catanzaro or Cremonese to achieve promotion to Serie A. Recent form puts them in good stead, as Venezia have won five of their last seven league games. Five of those matches saw them score multiple goals, and that gives them confidence in doing well here. To go with that, Venezia have won seven of their last nine home league games, giving them an extra edge.

Palermo ended their regular season on a high with consecutive league wins, but the loss in the first leg put them on the back foot. Nonetheless, that was the ninth game out of their last 11 league matches where they failed to win. Even a draw won’t be sufficient here for the visitors, who will take comfort from the fact that they won 3-1 here earlier in the regular season. That said, recent away form has been poor for Palermo. They have won only three of their last 14 away league games, drawing six and losing five. Palermo would be keen to improve on this record, as they need to win and have at least a two-goal winning margin to progress.

Prediction: Palermo

Venezia vs Palermo stream and TV listing

Peru：DIRECTV

Venezuela：directvsports.com

International：Score808 808ball