FIORENTINA

League position: 15th
Head coach: Cesare Prandelli
Serie A top-scorer: Dusan Vlahovic (9)

RECENT FORM

Fiorentina: D L L W L
Roma: W W D W L

La Viola have been hugely inconsistent thus far and find themselves in 15th-place going into a midweek Matchday 25 - but they are still closer to the top-half (five points off fifth) than the relegation zone (seven clear of 18th).

They have collected three points on three occasions in the league since the turn of the New Year (P10, W3, D2, L5), with all three of their victories coming at home, and Fiorentina have thus far picked up 19 of their 25 points at the Artemio Franchi.

Roma’s own fine home form hit its first hurdle on Sunday as they lost for the first time this season at the Stadio Olimpico, but the Giallorossi remain well in the hunt for the top-four.

They did slip into fifth with that defeat to Milan, but a fifth away win of the season could move them back into third-place.

LAST MEETING

DANGER MAN
Dusan Vlahovic

Just 21 years-old, Vlahovic is shouldering a great deal of Fiorentina’s goalscoring burden already and - recently at least - if he scores, they tend to win.

Eight of Vlahovic’s nine league goals have come in his side’s 13 most recent fixtures since the middle of December and he has found the back of the net in all four of their victories during that time.

In fact, Fiorentina have collected 14 points from nine matches this term with Vlahovic on the scoresheet, compared to 11 from 15 in games without the Serb on target.

It is the 6’3” striker’s most prolific season of his career to-date and both his physicality and eye for goal will certainly keep Roma’s central back-three on their toes.

MATCH STATS

Following Roma’s 2-0 victory in November’s meeting between the two, if Fiorentina were to fail to score on Sunday it would be the first time in history that they’ve drawn two blanks against the Giallorossi in the same season.

Roma are unbeaten against Fiorentina in their previous five Serie A matches (W3, D2), a run that dates back to April 2018.

That sequence includes Roma victories in each of the last three matches, which have seen the Giallorossi score eight times at an average of 2.6 goals per game.

That record will give Paulo Fonseca’s side confidence that they can end their run of three away games without scoring in the top-flight, as will the fact Roma haven’t lost in nine games against sides placed 14th or below (W8, D1).

PLAYER STATS

• Roma top scorer Jordan Veretout began his Serie A career with Fiorentina and represented them 75 times in all competitions between 2017 and 2019.
  
• Three of this fixture’s top-five goalscorers in all competitions represented both clubs, with Abel Balbo, Gabriel Batistuta and Robero Pruzzo all winning the Scudetto with Roma.
  
• Prandelli was briefly named Roma boss in 2004 but less than a month later stood down without taking charge of a game in order to support his wife Manuela as she fought cancer.
  
• Vlahovic has scored six of Fiorentina’s last eight goals at home, but has never bagged against Roma and has lost all three of his previous meetings with the Giallorossi.

WHAT THEY SAID

“We played well in the last three away games, but we came away with little to show for it. There were mistakes, now we must think about the next game on Wednesday.”

- Prandelli after the 1-0 defeat to Udinese last time out