Having booked their place in the Coppa Italia semi-finals, Fiorentina return to their pursuit of a top-six finish in Serie A when they host Udinese on Sunday.
In midweek, the Viola prevailed on penalties to progress in the cup, and they sat fourth in the standings at the halfway stage of the league season.
Match preview
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Despite failing to break through the defences of fellow Serie A high-flyers Bologna during 120 minutes of Coppa Italia action, Fiorentina then converted all of their spot-kicks in the subsequent penalty shootout to reach the semi-finals for a second successive year.
Tuesday's win set up a two-legged semi versus Atalanta BC in three months time, but between now and then, the Viola's schedule remains packed: after welcoming Udinese to Florence, last season's losing cup finalists head for Saudi Arabia to contest the new-look Supercoppa Italiana - a few weeks later, they will feature in the Europa Conference League's knockout phase.
It has been a mixed start to 2024 for Vincenzo Italiano's team, though, as their midweek success followed a frustrating league loss to Serie A strugglers Sassuolo that ended a three-game winning streak.
In spite of their defeat in Reggio Emilia, Fiorentina still finished the first half of the season inside Italy's top four and also recorded their best points tally at this stage since 2015-16.
Undoubtedly, the Tuscan team have made most progress at Stadio Artemio Franchi, and having won their last four home matches in the league - keeping clean sheets in each of the last three - they will expect to seal another victory this weekend.
Fiorentina have won their last two meetings with Udinese by the same 2-0 scoreline, the second of which was September's reverse fixture.
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Indeed, Udinese's record versus the Viola is particularly awful when away from home, as the Friuli club have been beaten on no less than 14 of their last 15 visits to Stadio Franchi.
They will arrive there on this occasion amid a battle to avoid relegation trouble, having followed up just their second league win of the season with a 2-1 defeat to Lazio last time out.
After stunning Bologna with a 3-0 victory in their final fixture of 2023, Gabriele Cioffi's men could not claim another scalp against the in-form Aquile - though Walace drew them level just before the hour mark, Lazio's Matias Vecino later produced the matchwinner.
As a result, Udinese dangle just three points above the drop zone at the season's halfway stage, and they have tallied 11 points fewer than at the same point last term.
Cioffi is under pressure to produce more with the resources at his disposal, and his second spell in charge could be curtailed soon if his team slip further into danger: the coming month will see the Bianconeri meet AC Milan, Atalanta and Juventus, so that is a very real possibility.
Team News
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After switching things up in terms of formation and personnel against Bologna, Fiorentina coach Vincenzo Italiano should revert to his favoured 4-2-3-1 setup on Sunday, when senior players such as first-choice goalkeeper Pietro Terracciano and playmaker Giacomo Bonaventura return to the starting XI.
The latter - who has scored in his last two league matches against Udinese - is just two goals away from his personal record for a single season (eight) and is set to link up with either Lucas Beltran or M'Bala Nzola from an advanced midfield position.
Italiano can include former Hellas Verona captain Marco Faraoni in his squad following the 32-year-old's loan signing this week, and fellow wide-man Riccardo Sottil hopes to recover from a thigh problem. However, Gaetano Castrovilli, Dodo and Nico Gonzalez all remain unavailable due to injury and Christian Kouame is away at the Africa Cup of Nations.
Udinese, meanwhile, have welcomed Jordan Zemura back to full training, with the ex-Bournemouth wing-back taking part alongside new arrival Lautaro Gianetti. Simone Pafundi and Brenner also participated, so Gabriele Cioffi's forward options could be bolstered this weekend.
Another striker, Keinan Davis, made his injury-delayed Serie A debut against Lazio last Sunday and will now compete with Lorenzo Lucca for a first start; Gerard Deulofeu remains sidelined, while in-demand midfielder Lazar Samardzic is poised to leave the club.
Lucca is likely to retain his place as the visitors' lone front man, with support from Roberto Pereyra, who is yet to score against Fiorentina in 11 league games.
Fiorentina possible starting lineup:
Terracciano; Kayode, Milenkovic, Martinez Quarta, Biraghi; Duncan, Arthur; Brekalo, Bonaventura, Ikone; Beltran
Udinese possible starting lineup:
Okoye; Ferreira, Perez, Kristensen; Ebosele, Payero, Walace, Lovric, Kamara; Pereyra; Lucca
We say: Fiorentina 1-0 Udinese
As high-flying Fiorentina have been keeping things tight on home turf and Udinese have scored only six times on the road so far, the Viola should edge to victory by a single goal.
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Top tip
Jonathan O'Shea
