Benevento will be looking to bring an end to their four-match losing streak in Serie A when they take on Fiorentina at the Stadio Artemio Franchi on Sunday.
The visitors have slipped down to 16th place but are just two points behind Fiorentina, who are playing for the first time under new head coach Cesar Prandelli.
Match preview
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Benevento may be on a bad run of form, but they can perhaps take solace from the fact that they are doing better than their last top-flight campaign in 2017-18.
On that occasion, they lost an Italian-record 14 successive games to begin the campaign and spent all but one week of the season at the bottom of the division.
It took the Sorcerers just one match to get off the mark this time around, beating Sampdoria 3-2 away on the opening matchday, and they have also since defeated Bologna 1-0.
However, since that high point they have lost four in a row in the league and five on the spin overall, most recently going down 3-0 at home to Spezia.
Like three seasons ago, keeping out opponents is proving to be a major issue, with no team conceding more than their 20 goals this term.
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That is something Fiorentina will be looking to take advantage of, though La Viola fired blanks in their 2-0 loss to Roma and 0-0 draw with Parma before the two-week break.
Sunday's match will be the first in charge for Prandelli in his second spell at the club following the sacking of Beppe Iachini.
Prandelli was previously in charge from 2005 to 2010, making him Fiorentina's longest-serving coach of all time.
The returning coach will be looking to build on what has been a good record on home soil for his side, having won four of their last five at the Stadio Artemio Franchi.
La Viola also have a good record against this weekend's opponents, winning their previous two Serie A matches by an aggregate score of 4-0.
Fiorentina Serie A form: LLDWLD
Fiorentina form (all competitions): LDWWLD
Benevento Serie A form: LWLLLL
Benevento form (all competitions): WLLLLL
Team News
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Prandelli has hinted that he will alter Fiorentina's formation to a 4-3-3 of sorts, but he is expected to be without Jose Callejon this weekend so a rethink may be required.
Franck Ribery is likely to play a key part under Prandelli and is fully fit for this weekend's match after a two-week breather.
However, there are question marks over the availability of a number of other players due to coronavirus travel restrictions, with Dusan Vlahovic among those who may miss out.
As for Benevento, Gianluca Caprari is serving a suspension so Marco Sau is in line to start up top.
Alessandro Tuia is the visitors' only fitness doubt, with Iago Falque thought to be back in contention.
Falque has not scored in his last nine league matches - only between September and December 2015 has he gone on a longer run in the competition (11 with Roma).
Fiorentina possible starting lineup:
Dragowski; Lirola, Milenkovic, Pezzella, Biraghi; Amrabat, Pulgar, Castrovilli; Ribery; Kouame, Cutrone
Benevento possible starting lineup:
Montipo; Maggio, Glik, Caldirola, Letizia; Ionita, Schiattarella, Dabo; Insigne, Lapadula, Sau
We say: Fiorentina 1-0 Benevento
Fiorentina are embarking on another new chapter and will be eager to get off to a winning start under Prandelli.
The hosts may have gone two games without a win and a goal, ultimately leading to Iachini's exit, but this is the perfect match for them to put that right against a badly out of form Benevento side.
Top betting tip
Data Analysis
Our analysis of all available data, including recent performances and player stats up until an hour before kickoff, suggested the most likely outcome of this match was a Fiorentina win with a probability of 51.89%. A draw had a probability of 24.1% and a win for Benevento had a probability of 24.01%.
The most likely scoreline for a Fiorentina win was 1-0 with a probability of 10.68%. The next most likely scorelines for that outcome were 2-1 (9.67%) and 2-0 (9.04%). The likeliest drawn scoreline was 1-1 (11.43%), while for a Benevento win it was 0-1 (6.76%). The actual scoreline of 0-1 was predicted with a 6.8% likelihood.
