Football Update: Serie A Preview- A.S Roma vs. Fiorentina
Claudio Ranieri’s A.S Roma are finally putting things back together as they take on Fiorentina in a Serie A encounter at home.
Roma’s season got off to a very bad start as they were in the relegation zone for 6 games and their overall performances were inconsistent to say the least. However, “Lupi” have finally started recovering from the earlier setbacks and their victory against
bitter rivals A.S Roma away from home was a great performance. It served as an inspiration for the team as the Roman giants take on Fiorentina today at Stadio Olimpico.
The 2-0 victory in the Roman derby was a very good performance as Roma dominated throughout the match while playing away. The victory was a second consecutive one in the league for A.S Roma and third in all competitions.
With the crucial win, Roma are now sitting seventh on 15 points and three points behind Juventus who are at number 4. Winning the league this season maybe a far cry and too optimistic but a champions league spot finish is still up for grabs and manager Claudio
Ranieri is very hopeful that his side will carry on the recent revival as the team is overcoming a difficult phase. There were problems at the start of the campaign but now the team seems to be going in the right direction.
Ranieri was full of praise for the fans ahead of the encounter with Fiorentina and acknowledged the fans for standing by the team during a very testing phase as the team rewarded the fans’ patience by playing a very good and intelligent game against Lazio.
On the other hand, Fiorentina have a revival of their own to look forward to as the Viola narrowly defeated Catania 1-0 in Florence. The win extended their unbeaten run to 4 games and took the Viola to 11th in the Serie A standings.
Sinisa Mihajlovic’s side had a disappointing start to the season but after winning three consecutive matches in the Serie A, lie in 11th place with 12 points, close enough to a Europa League spot. But Fiorentina have a daunting task ahead as the
team from Florence hasn’t won away from home for over 9 months now and Roma is still unbeaten at home.
Roma team news
Juan, Okaka, Taddei and Pizzaro are all going to miss the match due to injuries while Cassetti is suspended for the game after accumulating 5 yellow cards this season. Roma hero Francesco Totti will return for the game after he missed the derby win against
Lazio through suspension.
Fiorentina team news
Frey, Montolivo, Jovetic, Zanetti, Felipe and Babacar are all out injured and former A.C Milan striker Gilardino will play as a lone striker and would be looking to get support from Marchionni, Adrian Mutu and Vargas.
Roma and Fiorentina head to head record
Serie A February 7th, 2010 Fiorentina 0 – Roma 1
Serie A September 20th, 2009 Roma 3 – Fiorentina 1
Serie A April 25th, 2009 Fiorentina 4 – Roma 1
Serie A November 30th, 2008 Roma 1 – Fiorentina 0
Players to watch
Mirko Vucinic (A.S Roma)
Mirko Vucinic has been in great form throughout the season and has been instrumental in shaping Roman revival. The creative and hardworking Montenegrin player will be a constant threat for Fiorentina.
Adrian Mutu (Fiorentina)
The Romanian is making a comeback from a year long suspension and looked in good shaped against Chievo this weekend. Mutu can play behind the lone striker and would provide ample support to Gilardino as key player Montolivo is out due to injury.
Prediction
A.S Roma have started turning things around and are yet to lose three points at home this season. The return of their talisman Francesco Totti would be great news for the team and the veteran would look to provide more firepower in the Roman attacking front.
Moreover, the derby win against Lazio would be an immense motivational and psychological factor and Roma would be expecting to win against the men from Florence by 2-0 with Mirko Vucinic and Francesco Totti scoring the goals.
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