On Sunday night Inter take on Fiorentina at the Artemio Franchi with both sides needing to start delivering some consistency to what have been stuttering starts to their Serie A campaigns this season.
Nerazurri coach Walter Mazzarri will be particularly keen for an immediate improvement from his players after their disastrous 4-1 home defeat to Cagliari last Sunday, while Vicenzo Montella’s side have picked up just one win so far.
Last season the Milan based side did the double over the Viola with identical 2-1 victories, the most recent in Florence last February saw Mauro Icardi’s 65th minute goal make the difference after Alberto Aquilani cancelled out Rodrigo Palacio’s opener.
While that match was fairly even Fiorentina will have felt more aggrieved by the manner of defeat at San Siro when outplaying the Nerazzurri for large parts, however, with a solitary Giuseppe Rossi penalty to show for their efforts goals from Esteban Cambiasso and Jonathan in the final 18 minutes stole the points.
Since the Viola returned to Serie A in 2004 Inter have often had the upper hand in Florence with the home side recording just to victories compared to the Nerazzurri’s four, while they have shared the points on four occasions.
Coping with the loss of striker Rossi so close to the season’s commencement was always going to be difficult, however, the Viola haven’t quite recovered from the opening day defeat to Roma as Mario Gomez has failed to bear some of that burden as expected and is now also injured.
After drawing with Genoa in Florence, Montella’s men looked to have got their campaign underway with a narrow victory at Atalanta, but consecutive draws against Sassuolo and Torino highlight a side lacking the creativity seen last term.
Although inconsistent, Inter have had a marginally better start, steamrollering Sassuolo 7-0 and defeating Atalanta at the San Siro, but with unconvincing draws on the road Torino and Palermo emphasize that there is more work to be done by coach Mazzarri.
What the Nerazzurri do have in their favour is a wealth of striking talent to take to Florence with the only injury concerns defender Hugo Campagnaro and wing-back Jonathan, who could be rushed back into the starting line-up given Yuto Nagatomo is suspended after is red card versus Cagliari.
Along with striking duo Gomez and Rossi, Peruvian Juan Vargas has also been nursing an injury but is expected to make the Fiorentina squad, though, the widemen Joaquin and Juan Cuadrado may not make it.
Expected Starting XIs
Fiorentina – Neto; Tomovic, Rodriguez, Basanta; Bernardeschi, Valero, Pizarro, Fernandez, Pasqual; Ilicic; Babacar
Inter – Handanovic; Andreolli, Ranocchia, Juan Jesus; Jonathan, Hernanes, Medel, Kovacic, Dodo; Osvaldo, Icardi
