Fiorentina will travel to take on their Tuscan neighbours Empoli in Serie A this Sunday, as the Viola aim to overcome the Azzurri in the Derby dell’Arno.
Last time out the home side lost narrowly 1-0 away to Juventus, whilst the visitors could not profit from a second half sending off of Joaquin Correa, ultimately drawing 1-1 at home to Sampdoria.
Fiorentina won a thrilling contest 3-2 against Empoli the last time the two sides met at the Stadio Carlo Castellani in 2014-15 but this season they had to come back from 2-0 down at the Stadio Artemio Franchi to eventually draw 2-2.
For Viola fans, this has to be seen as a must-win game if the club is to have any remote hope of gaining access to a Champions League qualification spot for next season’s competition.
They are currently seven points behind third placed Roma and have not won any of their last five games, whilst the Giallorossi are the form team in the league on a ten match unbeaten run so anything but a win on Sunday will see the Viola’s hopes for Champions League football dashed for yet another season
Empoli on the other hand had a very good first half of the season being in seventh place at the half way mark but since then they haven’t managed to win a game and find themselves now in 14th place although they should comfortably stay clear of the relegation scrap since they are eight points above Palermo and Carpi.
Riccardo Saponara’s assists and Massimo Maccarone’s goals have slowly dried up and for Marco Giampaolo’s men this game will mean more in terms of pride since the two cities are only 30 kilometres apart rather than picking up points given that they are comfortably placed in mid-table.
Marko Livaja is a doubt for the hosts, whilst it has been confirmed that Khouma Babacar will be out for at least a month with a thigh injury that could sideline him until the rest of the season.
Form Guide: Empoli (L-D-D-L-L) Fiorentina (D-D-D-L-D)
Expected Starting XIs
Empoli: Skorupski; Laurini, Costa, Tonelli, Mario Rui; Zielinski, Paredes, Croce; Saponara; Maccarone, Pucciarelli
Fiorentina: Tatarusanu; Rodriguez, Astori, Roncaglia; Bernardeschi, Vecino, Badelj, Alonso; Ilicic, Valero; Kalinic
