We examine whether Fiorentina can get back to winning ways, after a month which has seen them slip down the Serie A table and crash out of the Coppa Italia.
It has been a difficult week for Fiorentina and particularly their coach, Paulo Sousa. On Monday, the Viola were given a tough tie in the last 32 of the Europa league against Tottenham Hotspur, and that was sandwiched in between two defeats in the space of three days, at the hands of Juventus in Serie A and Carpi in the Coppa Italia respectively. If the Viola are to go into the Christmas break maintaining their position as Scudetto contenders, this is a game that they must win, and comprehensively.
Fiorentina have only won two of their last seven matches in all competitions (against Udinese and Belenenses respectively), and successive draws against Sassuolo and Empoli at the end of November have put a significant dent in their Scudetto dreams. Their position in the top three has been maintained primarily due to defeats suffered in recent weeks by Roma and Napoli, but inevitably Juventus are now closing in on the top three spots after a run of 6 successive Serie A victories.
Fiorentina have beaten Chievo on each of the last five occasions that the sides have met, scoring at least two goals in each of those five matches. There goalscoring record against Chievo is strong, failing to find the net against their opponents only twice in the last 11 matches between the sides. However, their opponents will be difficult to overcome.
Chievo currently find themselves in the relative comfort of mid-table, after a solid first half of the season which has seen them amass 22 points in their 16 games to date. Their current run of form has seen them victorious in three of their last four games. It is likely that the Chievo defence will prove difficult to break down, a fact epitomised by their defeats against Inter, Napoli and Milan – all due to their opponents scoring the only goal in each of those fixtures. Fiorentina will also need to be wary of the threat posed by the Slovenian international, Valter Birsa, who has been in exceptional form this season, scoring three goals and providing four assists from the Trequartista role.
With the Christmas break coming up, one expects that Paulo Sousa will select his strongest team for this fixture. The only selection dilemma for Sousa will be whether to stick with Nenad Tomovic in defence, or bring in Facundo Roncaglia to replace him. The only absentee for the Viola will be Jakub Blaszczykowski, who remains sidelined with the hamstring injury picked up with Poland during the last round of international friendly matches in mid-November.
Chievo are likely to field an unchanged team from their 1-0 victory over Atalanta last weekend, although coach, Rolando Maran, might look to introduce Roberto Inglese in place of Riccardo Meggiorini. The match will see the return of former Fiorentina favourites, Alessandro Gamberini, Danio Danielli and Massimo Gobbi to the Franchi, and they can be sure of a warm welcome. However, with ex-Viola favourites, Mohamed Salah and Juan Cuadrado, already having contributed to Fiorentina defeats this season, Sousa and the Viola fans will be wary of “the law of the ex”.
Fiorentina expected starting line-up (3-4-2-1): Tatarasanu; Astori, Rodriguez, Roncaglia; Bernardeschi, Vecino, Badelj, Alonso; Valero, Ilicic; Kalinic.
Chievo expected starting line-up: (4-3-3): Bizarri; Gobbi, Gamberini, Danelli, Cacciatore; Castro, Hetemaj, Radovanovic; Birsa, Meggiorini, Paloschi.
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