Fiorentina will be looking to record their second victory of their Europa League campaign on Thursday when they take on Polish side, Lech Poznan.
The Viola have won both their previous games against Polish sides in Europe by a two goal margin, and Paulo Sousa will be expecting something similar tonight. Their opponents have failed to win any of their 4 matches against Italian opposition in European competitions.
Lech have so far failed to score in either of the two matches they have played in the Europa League this season, against Belenenses and FC Basel respectively. Fiorentina will feel that if they can score early, they can control the game and wrack up a comprehensive victory to give them confidence ahead of the visit of AS Roma at the weekend.
After their 2-1 defeat away to Napoli at the weekend, Paulo Sousa may look to rotate several of his players to give them game time, with Mario Suarez, Khouma Babacar, Giuseppe Rossi and Josep Ilicic likely to feature in this match. Fiorentina will however be without the services of Gonzalo Rodriguez who is still suspended after his dismissal against FC Basel, whilst Marcos Alonso is likely to miss the fixture after a scan showed that he picked up a left thigh strain in Sunday’s game at Napoli. The Brazilian, Gilberto, will also miss the match as he has not yet recovered from the injury that saw him substituted after 15 minutes of the Viola’s 4-1 victory over Inter at the end of September. The left back is likely to return to training on Thursday or Friday, but will not likely be ready to start the game against Roma. It is likely therefore that one of Tomovic or Blaszczykowski will be asked to deputise at left-back for this fixture.
Although they are the reigning Polish champions, Lech are currently bottom of the Ekstraklasa table, and recently replaced their coach Maciej Skorża, with the former Legia Warsaw coach, Jan Urban. On current form, Fiorentina, as Serie A leaders, should overcome their opponents quite convincingly.
Fiorentina likely starting line-up: 4-3-3 Tatarasanu; Blaszczykowski, Roncaglia, Astori, Tomovic; Suarez, Fernandez, Badelj; Ilicic, Babacar, Rossi.
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