After an encouraging midweek draw, faltering Fiorentina look to claim a first league win since late October as they welcome Hellas Verona to Stadio Artemio Franchi on Saturday.
The visitors' excellent run of form in Serie A came to an end in midweek, with the Gialloblu losing 2-1 at home to Sampdoria.
Match preview
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A courageous 1-1 home draw against high-flying Sassuolo on Wednesday seems to have stemmed criticism of returning head coach Cesare Prandelli and his players - who had been sent to a training camp after a disappointing 3-0 defeat to Atalanta.
The upwardly-mobile Neroverdi, in fifth place in the standings, were perhaps surprised by the tenacity of a Fiorentina team which even came within a whisker of claiming all three points when Franck Ribery had a late shot tipped onto the bar.
In perhaps an act of desperation more than anything, Prandelli had shuffled his deck substantially, picking a 3-5-2 featuring Lorenzo Venuti at wing-back and Giacomo Bonaventura in midfield. Given the sharp uplift in performance, it is likely he will persist with the new look for the tough trials ahead.
Despite picking up a long-awaited point, Fiorentina are just three points above the relegation zone and the Viola must follow Verona's visit with a trip to Turin for a daunting encounter with Juventus just before the brief winter break.
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Much of the aftermath of Verona's unexpected loss at Stadio Bentegodi - in which Samp stung them twice on the counter-attack - was dominated by an outburst from highly-rated coach Ivan Juric, who has often criticised the club's transfer policy.
Though Hellas are flying high, their Croatian coach has been angered by the sale of key players such as Marash Kumbulla and Amir Rrahmani and a perceived lack of investment by the board, stating: "They have a different vision to me."
Currently in seventh place in Serie A with 19 points, the Gialloblu have not always demonstrated the typical grit and cohesion that has characterised two successful seasons under Juric but have continued to pick up points against the odds.
From their previous four away matches, Verona have accumulated an impressive eight points from a possible 12 against four of last season's top-six clubs – Juventus, AC Milan, Atalanta and most recently Lazio.
Not only that, but despite their midweek slip-up and the manager's griping, they have lost only three of their 12 league games so far – which, until Wednesday, was the club's best start to a top-flight campaign since their Scudetto win of 1984-85.
Therefore, their journey to the Tuscan capital will hold few fears for Juric's side and provides a presentable opportunity to get back on track ahead of Inter Milan's visit to Verona next week.
Fiorentina Serie A form: DLLDLD
Fiorentina form (all competitions): LWLDLD
Hellas Verona Serie A form: DLWDWL
Hellas Verona form (all competitions): LLWDWL
Team News
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Cesare Prandelli was aided by the return of Martin Caceres, Cristiano Biraghi and Erick Pulgar against Sassuolo, so Fiorentina should be at full strength for the visit of Verona.
The former Azzurri boss is expected to retain Wednesday's 3-5-2, with Gaetano Castrovilli being joined by Giacomo Bonaventura and ex-Verona midfielder Sofyan Amrabat in the midfield three.
In addition to the absences of Marco Benassi, summer signing Nikola Kalinic, Mert Cetin and former Leeds United midfielder Ronaldo Vieira, Verona's Ivan Juric will also have to do without the suspended Antonin Barak, who was sent off against Sampdoria.
In their usual 3-4-2-1 setup, the Gialloblu are likely to stick with Samuel Di Carmine as the lone striker, with Andrea Favilli an option on the bench.
Fiorentina possible starting lineup:
Dragowski; Milenkovic, Pezzella, Caceres; Lirola, Bonaventura, Amrabat, Castrovilli, Biraghi; Vlahovic, Ribery
Hellas Verona possible starting lineup:
Silvestri; Faraoni, Dawidowicz, Ceccherini; Lazovic, Tameze, Veloso, Dimarco; Salcedo, Zaccagni; Di Carmine
We say: Fiorentina 1-1 Hellas Verona
With an upcoming visit to the champions set to close out their calendar year commitments, Fiorentina could certainly do with a home win on Saturday.
Their struggles in front of goal can be exploited by a well-drilled Verona side though, as I Gialloblu can take home a point to keep themselves among the top-half challengers going into 2020.
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 53.97%. A draw had a probability of 23.5% and a win for Hellas Verona had a probability of 22.48%.
The most likely scoreline for a Fiorentina win was 1-0 with a probability of 10.7%. The next most likely scorelines for that outcome were 2-1 (9.78%) and 2-0 (9.37%). The likeliest drawn scoreline was 1-1 (11.16%), while for a Hellas Verona win it was 0-1 (6.38%). The actual scoreline of 1-1 was predicted with an 11.2% likelihood.
