Fiorentina for their second meeting of the 2015-16 campaign at the Stadio Luigi Ferraris on Sunday.
Gian Piero Gasperini looked to have his Rossoblu outfit set on a path to success in recent weeks after notching a first away victory of the season over Atalanta and then followed that up with a 4-0 mauling of Palermo, yet Genoa’s inconsistency issue reared it’s ugly head in a 1-1 draw against basement dwellers Hellas Verona last weekend.
Meanwhile, Paulo Sousa found the much needed remedy to the ailments of 2016 suffered thus far by Fiorentina, as the club is coming off it’s first victory of the new year after sealing a 2-0 victory at the Stadio Artemio Franchi.
Head to head, these two clubs have a well established 22 match history between them. While both share nine draws, Fiorentina claim far more bragging rights with 10 victories dwarfing Genoa’s three.
One comforting fact that Gasperini can take into consideration ahead of the clash is that all three of the Grifone’s victories over La Viola were achieved on home soil.
Khouma Babacar made the difference with a headed goal to earn a 1-0 victory for Fiorentina over Genoa in the match played at the Franchi earlier this season.
Leonardo Pavoletti will be itching to hit the back of the net once again for Genoa after reaching 10 in his astonishing display against Palermo, while Suso is also keen on making added impacts for his new club after netting his first goal against the Rosanero and causing Ferdinando Coppola’s own goal from a well-taken free kick against the Mastini.
While Diego Perotti is expected to finalize his transfer to Roma in the coming days, Alessio Cerci could possibly fill his spot up front against his former club after his debut last weekend since completing a successful loan move from AC Milan.
Paulo Sousa might also chose to implement his fresh arrivals after doing so with the debut inclusions of Tino Costa and Mauro Zarate in the previous fixture.
Josip Ilicic equaled his personal best tally of 10 goals a season to go level with frontman Nikola Kalinic in Fiorentina’s current top scorers list.
Only Milan Badelj will be ruled out of the match after suffering a muscle injury earlier this month.
Form Guide: Genoa (D-W-W-L-L) Fiorentina (W-L-L-W-W)
Expected Starting XIs
Genoa: Perin; Izzo, De Maio, Munoz, Ansaldi, Rincon, Rigoni, Laxalt, Suso, Pavoletti, Perotti
Fiorentina: Tatarusanu; Roncaglia, G. Rodriguez, Astori; Blaszczykowski, Borja Valero, Vecino, Pasqual; Ilicic, Bernardeschi; Kalinic
Infographic Source: www.sporticos.com
