Udinese v Fiorentina – Preview: Zebrette seek relegation reprieve from Viola

Date: 19th April 2016 at 7:48pm
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Fiorentina UdineseUdinese will be nervously looking over their shoulders when they welcome Fiorentina to the Dacia Arena on Wednesday evening.

The Zebrette stand just four points above the relegation zone and with Carpi and Frosinone having both won over the weekend, will surely now be feeling the pressure after Luigi De Canio’s side could only manage a 0-0 draw with Chievo.

Fiorentina meanwhile, ended a six-game winless streak by beating Sassuolo 3-1, a game marked by a curious own goal by Andrea Consigli. The Viola accordingly look safely ensconced in the fifth position, which would end a run of three straight fourth-placed finishes.

With Inter lying just two points ahead, a target has been set for Paulo Sousa’s men as they look to rally at the end of a disappointing season. The season to date favours the Viola as they have yet to lose to a team in the bottom third of the table.

This will be the 80th Serie A meeting between the two sides, and the 40th in Udine. The home side has won 14 and lost 11 of the previous contests, and are unbeaten at home against Fiorentina since 2009 when a late Juan Vargas winner sealed full points. The Viola however, easily won the reverse fixture 3-0, with Milan Badelj, Josip Ilicic, and Gonzalo Rodriguez all on target.

Sporticos_com_udinese_calcio_vs_acf_fiorentina

De Canio will be without Antonio Di Natale and Alexander Merkel for this meeting, so the Duvan Zapata-Cyril Thereau duo is set to continue in attack. Time is running out for Di Natale, who is still marooned at sixth place on the Serie A all-time scorers list. He needs another eight goals to leapfrog Jose Altafini into fifth.

Meanwhile, Sousa is faced with injury problems of his own. Yohan Benalouane has been out for some time but Khouma Babacar is now also set to miss out. However, Davide Astori has completed his one match ban and will likely return to the starting line-up.

Panagiotis Kone made the switch from Udine to Florence in January and made his debut for the Viola on the weekend. The Greek is unlikely to make the first team for Sunday, but remains a potent weapon from the bench.

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

Expected Starting XIs

Udinese: Karnezis; Heurtaux, Danilo, Wague; Widmer, Fernandes, Kuzmanovic, Hallfredsson, Pasquale; Zapata, Thereau

Fiorentina: Tatarusanu; Roncaglia, G. Rodriguez, Astori; Bernardeschi, Badelj, Vecino, Alonso; Borja Valero, Ilicic; Kalinic

Infographic Source: Sporticos.com

 

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