Fiorentina will be looking to temporarily take the top-spot in Serie A this evening, with a victory over Sassuolo at the Mapei Stadium.
The Viola have the chance, early this evening, to move above both Inter and Napoli, before those two sides meet later in the day at the .Mapei Stadium. Fiorentina coach, Paulo Sousa, will be hoping that the Viola can put pressure on their title rivals, as we move into the second third of the season. Meanwhile, Sassuolo will themselves be hoping for a positive result, to ensure that they move back into fifth place in the table above Juventus and AC Milan, after those two teams were comfortable winners in the earlier Matchday 14 fixtures. The performances of both these sides so far this season have been somewhat welcome surprises, but last weekend saw both sides struggle in games that they would have undoubtedly coasted earlier in the season.
After successive 2-2 draws against Empoli and Basel, Sousa will be looking for the Viola to return to winning ways, and is likely to pick his strongest available line-up, for what will be a difficult away trip. Much will be expected of Nikola Kalinic who excelled when scoring twice after he came on as a second-half substitute against Empoli, meanwhile Federico Bernardeschi will be hoping to continue his impressive form this season, and build on the two goals he scored in the Europa League draw at Basel on Thursday evening. If matters are not going well for the Viola, Sousa will have little hesitation in quickly turning to Khouma Babacar to up the goal-scoring threat, particularly after the Senagalese player’s 2 goals in Fiorentina’s 3-1 victory in this fixture last season.
If Sassuolo are to emerge with anything from this fixture, then much will depend on Paolo Cannavaro and Francesco Acerbi nullifying the threat posed by Kalinic, and on their midfield trio of Simone Missiroli, Francesco Magnanelli and Joseph Duncan disrupting the service provided to the Croatian striker by the Viola playmakers, Borja Valero and Josep Ilicic.
Sassuolo have Domenico Berardi missing through suspension after his dismissal in the Neroverdi’s 2-1 defeat away to Genoa last weekend, and the forward will be particularly missed as, like, Bernardeschi, his performances this season have seen his name mentioned as someone who should be receiving increasing consideration for a place in the Azzurri squad for Euro 2016. Fiorentina have a full squad to choose from, save for the missing Jakub Blaszczkowski, following his injury for Poland in the recent international friendly fixtures.
Sassuolo likely starting line-up (4-3-3): Consigli; Vrsaljko, Acerbi, Cannavaro, Peluso; Missiroli, Magnanelli, Duncan; Sansone, Defrel, Floro Flores.
Fiorentina likely starting line-up (3-4-2-1): Tatarasanu; Roncaglia, Rodriguez, Astori; Bernardeschi, Badelj, Vecino, Alonso; Ilicic, Valero; Kalinic.
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