Fiorentina travel to Cagliari on Sunday afternoon as Serie A takes centre stage after a midweek of European action, with both teams desperate for some domestic points.
Cagliari earned a magnificent draw against Napoli last weekend as they battled from 2-0 down to earn a 3-3 draw, in a match typically as thrilling as a game involving a Zdenek Zeman team would suggest.
Zeman’s men are currently languishing near the relegation zone but have had some positive results, earning draws with Milan and Sampdoria., but they haven’t won since a 4-0 victory over Empoli at the end of October.
Fiorentina have also had their struggles of late with injuries and poor form costing them dear as they sit 11th in the Serie A table.
The Tuscan club have won only three matches in Serie A since the start of October, including two defeats in the last three games, and are coming into the trip to Cagliari off the back of a tough Europe League win at Guingamp in France. Two early goals from Marko Marin and Khouma Babacar sealed the Europa League points on Thursday evening in a much changed line up.
Mario Gomez is slowly gearing his way back to fitness, as Juan Cuadrado carries on his eye catching form for La Viola. Neto, Stefan Savic and Gonzalo Rodriguez all missed the trip to France, but will likely be back in the starting XI on Sunday afternoon.
Diego Farias and Victor Ibarbo, the two men that helped Cagliari to that point against Napoli, are likely to start in attack once again. But a strong defence will be needed as the Isolani have conceded 20 goals this season, whilst scoring the sam amount.
Vincenzo Montella and his team have had a mixed bag of results after Europa League action including a 3-0 victory against Inter, but have drawn their last two matches which have come after a European tie.
Expected Starting XIs
Cagliari: Cragno, Pisano, Ceppitelli, Rossettini, Balzano, Dessena, Crisetig, Ekdal, Ibarbo, Cossu, Farias
Fiorentina: Neto, Savic, Rodriguez, Basanta, Joaquin, Fernandez, Pizarro, Valero, Alonso, Cuadrado, Gomez
