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At the Artemio Franchi this weekend, we have a clash between two of the bigger clubs in Italian football looking to challenge for a top six or even top four finish as Marco Baroni’s Lazio travel to Florence to face Fiorentina.
KICK-OFF DATE/TIME: Sunday 22nd September, 2024 - UK – 11:30am / US ET – 6:30am / US PT – 3:30am
HOW TO WATCH ON TV: UK – TNT Sports OR Not televised / US – Select matches will be televised on CBS Sports so it is worth checking their schedule
HOW TO WATCH ONLINE: UK – discovery+ OR Cannot be streamed / US – Paramount+
FIORENTINA PREVIEW: LACKING FLUENCY
In each of the last two seasons, Fiorentina have reached the final of the UEFA Europa Conference League before losing the final to West Ham United and Olympiakos respectively. I Viola are once again in that competition after a penalty shootout victory over Hungarian side Puskas Akademia in the playoff round last month.
Vincenzo Italiano has since departed the club and taken charge of Bologna with former Monza boss Raffaele Palladino getting the gig in Florence. He has had an underwhelming start to life in Serie A and that continued last weekend as Fiorentina suffered a 3-2 defeat away to a similarly underperforming Atalanta side in Bergamo last week.
LAZIO PREVIEW: GRINDING IT OUT
Under the management of former Hellas Verona boss Marco Baroni, who performed a miracle to keep Verona up last season after their January debacle, Lazio have started the campaign reasonably well following on from the underperformance of both Maurizio Sarri and former Verona boss Igor Tudor.
The visitors come into this one on the back of a 2-1 victory against the aforementioned Hellas Verona at Stadio Olimpico in the capital city last weekend with goals coming from Boulaye Dia and Valentin Castellanos. They have suffered just one defeat in their opening four matches of this season.
FIORENTINA TEAM NEWS: FULLY FIT FIORENTINA
Raffaele Palladino is blessed with a fully fit and available squad for this weekend’s visit of Lazio so they would be able to name an unchanged eleven for this one at the Artemio Franchi.
Vincenzo Italiano played with a back four throughout his time in charge of Fiorentina but they are still adjusting to Palladino’s preference to play a back three.
PREDICTED XI (3-4-2-1): David de Gea; Lucas Martinez Quarta, Ranieri, Biraghi; Dodo, Cataldi, Mandragora, Gosens; Colpani, Bove; Kean
UNAVAILABLE:
QUESTIONABLE:
LAZIO TEAM NEWS: NO NEED TO CHANGE
With no fresh injury concerns or suspension issues for this weekend and off the back of a victory, there appears no reason for Marco Baroni to make any changes for this week.
The visitors will continue to build their attack around former Girona and New York City striker Valentin Castellanos as he continues to attempt to fill the boots of Ciro Immobile.
PREDICTED XI (4-2-3-1): Provedel; Lazzari, Gila, Romagnoli, Tavares; Guendouzi, Rovella; Isaksen, Dia, Zaccagni; Valentin Castellanos
UNAVAILABLE:
QUESTIONABLE:
FIORENTINA VS LAZIO PREDICTION
Raffaele Palladino was often quite reactive and defensive in charge of Monza last season and the expectation of him is that he can adapt and evolve Fiorentina into a more efficient style of football after Italiano’s work. They face a Lazio side that have played some good football under Baroni but perhaps not quite as fluent as they would have liked. Either way, this should be quite an entertaining encounter in which both teams scoring seems a good bet.
FIORENTINA VS LAZIO TIP: BOTH TEAMS TO SCORE