With the Serie A season making its long awaited return this coming weekend, last season’s runners up Roma begin their Scudetto challenge at home on Saturday evening as they welcome Fiorentina to the capital at 19:45 CET on Saturday evening.
Rudi Garcia will unquestionably be looking to push Juventus further this season and possibly run out victorious as the capital club have made some sensible additions to his squad, while not losing too many key players with the exception of Mehdi Benatia who was recently sold to Bayern Munich.
The Viola will no doubt be looking to get a positive result themselves as they will have real intentions of claiming the third and final Champions League place come seasons end.
Fiorentina, who have had a quiet transfer window, will be relying heavily once more on the fitness of Mario Gomez and Giuseppe Rossi, with the latter already taking a setback through injury before a ball has been kicked this season.
The first fixture between the two sides last season took place in December at the Olimpico and saw the Giallorossi run out 2-1 winners. Maicon and Mattia Destro got on the scoresheet for the hosts that day while Juan Vargas found the back of the net for the Gigliati.
The return fixture at the Artemio Franchi also saw Garcia’s men run out victorious by a single goal, this time a 1-0 scoreline was secured by a first half strike from former Cagliari midfielder Radja Nainggolan.
The Giallorossi have proven stubborn opposition for Fiorentina in recent years, with the Viola slumping to defeat in their last five meetings.
With it being the opening weekend of the season, form doesn’t come into consideration and it will more than likely come down to which side has settled better with their new teammates.
The recent loss of Mehdi Benatia to Bayern could prove costly as he was expected to play, though new signing Kostas Manolas is expected to be thrown into the mix. Kevin Strootman will also miss the game through injury and Marco Borriello is also unavailable.
One major absentee for Fiorentina will be Rossi and his goalscoring prowess as he ended last season with 17 goals in 24 competitive matches for the Viola last season.
New signing Marko Marin is also in doubt while Matias Fernandez is carrying an ankle injury.
Expected Starting XIs
Roma – De Sanctis; Maicon, Castan, Manolas, Cole; De Rossi, Nainggolan, Pjanic; Gervinho, Iturbe, Totti.
Fiorentina – Neto; Rodriguez, Savic, Basanta, Pasqual; Cuadrado, Aquilani Pizarro, Marin, Vargas; Gomez.
