Sampdoria v Fiorentina – Preview: Blucerchiati welcome leaders to the Doria fortress

Date: 6th November 2015 at 6:13pm
Written by:

Angelo Palombo Sampdoria FiorentinaSampdoria host Serie A leaders Fiorentina at the Stadio Luigi Ferraris on Sunday night as they look to maintain their unbeaten run at home in Serie A this season.

Walter Zenga’s team are in ninth place in the table with 16 points after 11 rounds while Paulo Sousa’s side share first spot with Inter on 24 points. The Blucerchiati drew 1-1 with Chievo while the Gigliati thrashed Frosinone 4-1 in the last round.

Sampdoria have been in mediocre form recently. They have only won one of their last six matches and that was a 4-1 win at home to Hellas Verona. Il Doria can still count on their home record though, as they have won four matches and drawn two matches at the Marassi so far this season.

Fiorentina have won four of their last six games and they have the second-best attack in Serie A with 22 goals scored. They also have the third-best defence in Serie A by only conceding nine goals.

Il Doria won this fixture 3-1 last season. Angelo Palombo, Luca Rizzo and Eder scored for the home side while Stefan Savic scored a consolation goal for the visitors. The Viola last won this fixture in the 2012-13 season, when goals from Juan Cuadrado, Adem Ljajic and Alberto Aquilani gave them a 3-0 win. Current Samp goalkeeper Emiliano Viviano played in goal for Fiorentina in that game and even he has a Viola tattoo on his chest.

Sporticos_com_sampdoria_genoa_vs_acf_fiorentina

Zenga is expected to make some changes in defence after the draw against Chievo. Niklas Moisander should take Matias Silvestre’s place while Vasco Regini will probably come in for Djamel Mesbah’s at left-back. Sampdoria have Andrea Coda and Lazaros Christodoulopoulos unavailable due to long-term injuries but Nenad Krsticic could make his return from injury.

Sousa will likely rotate his squad after the game against Lech Poznan in the Europa League and Giuseppe Rossi and Federico Bernardeschi could start against Samp. Fiorentina will only be missing young midfielder Marko Bakic with a back injury.

Form Guide: Sampdoria (D-L-W-D-D) Fiorentina (W-L-L-W-W)

Expected Starting XIs

Sampdoria: Viviano; Cassani, Moisander, Zukanovic, Regini; Soriano, Fernando, Barreto; Carbonero, Muriel, Eder.

Fiorentina: Tatarusanu; Tomovic, G Rodriguez, Roncaglia; Rebic, Borja Valero, Badelj, Bernardeschi; Mati Fernandez, Rossi; Babacar.

Infographic from www.sporticos.com

 

Comments are closed.