Lazio-Fiorentina is a Serie A Week 20 match played on Sunday at 18:00: odds, predictions, TV and streaming.
Juventus’ exit (momentary or definitive?) from the race for the top four places due to the heavy penalty has indirectly favoured several teams, including Lazio. With two victories in a row, the biancocelesti have found themselves in third place, one point behind second-placed Milan and level with Inter and Roma, who are ahead thanks to the better goal difference. For the Champions League, in short, they will also have to be reckoned with.
The Capitolini’s main problem so far has been the continuity of performance, perhaps due to a bench that, as in past years, remains very short. But when they are on their day, it is difficult to contain them. Milan know something about this, who were wrecked in their direct clash at the Olimpico last Tuesday. Maurizio Sarri’s team, despite the absence of their goal scorer Ciro Immobile due to injury, put on a good show by overwhelming the Rossoneri 4-0 and cancelling the two early January missteps against Lecce (2-1) and Empoli (2-2). For the Tuscan coach, it was the third consecutive success – including the Coppa Italia win at the expense of Bologna – as well as the fifth match in a row in which his team found the way of the goal, confirming an attack that runs even without its bomber. The defence also holds up, the least perforated after Napoli’s.
Lazio “black beast” of the Viola
Lazio’s spirits are once again high and they are now aiming to extend their winning streak against a Fiorentina side who are in a marked decline in both performance and results.
Ikoné and Italian
The Viola went limp again, as evidenced by the two scoreless defeats in a row against Roma and Torino – both finished 1-0 – and the benefits Vincenzo Italiano had found with the new module seem to have vanished. Particularly bloody was the home defeat against Ivan Juric’s Granata, which caused the lily-headed team to slip down the right side of the table and lose ground in the fight for seventh place. Scoring points in Rome will be tricky, as Lazio are Fiorentina’s ‘black beast’, with the Biancocelesti having won six of their last seven matches against the Tuscans.
Lazio v Fiorentina: the latest line-up news
Immobile is trying to hurry things along but is unlikely to be available for the Fiorentina game. Sarri is expected to confirm more or less the same line-up that beat AC Milan: the only doubt concerns the condition of Marusic, who came off injured last Tuesday, in case of forfeit Hysaj is ready. Lazzari returns on the right flank. The attack, as against the Rossoneri, will be composed of Pedro, Felipe Anderson and Zaccagni.
Problems in the advanced department also for Italiano. Cabral has returned to training but will not be in the match and so we will see a ballot between Jovic and Kouamé, with the latter slightly favoured. Tantalizing, however, is the experiment of Gonzalez as first forward. In the midfield the coach confirms Duncan and Amrabat, while on the right hand side the Brazilian Dodò will be back.
The prediction
Violet fans still have in mind the terrible 0-4 defeat of the first leg, the heaviest defeat of the season so far for Italiano’s team. In fact, Lazio seem to go toe-to-toe with opponents like Fiorentina, who, with their very high defence, particularly suffer from restarts and sudden verticalisations. The Biancoceleste victory does not seem to be in question and it is not to be ruled out that the hosts will manage to keep their goal inviolate again against an anaemic attack like that of the Tuscans.
Lazio v Fiorentina (Lazio v Fiorentina) matchday squad
- LAZIO (4-3-3): Provedel; Lazzari, Casale, Romagnoli, Marusic; Milinkovic-Savic, Cataldi, Luis Alberto; Pedro, Felipe Anderson, Zaccagni.
- FIORENTINA (4-2-3-1): Terracciano; Dodò, Milenkovic, Igor, Biraghi; Duncan, Amrabat; Ikoné, Bonaventura, Gonzalez; Kouamé.
POSSIBLE RESULT: 3-0
