Fiorentina and Sampdoria kick off Matchday 3 of the 2020/21 Serie A season on Friday as the two sides clash at Stadio Artemio Franchi.
Fiorentina finished just seven points ahead of Sampdoria last term, so this is destined to be a tight game between two evenly matched teams.
La Viola kicked off their campaign was a 1-0 victory over Torino a fortnight ago. Fiorentina racked up 15 shots, with Gaetano Castrovilli scoring the winner on 78 minutes.
In their previous outing, Giuseppe Iachini’s side ended up on the wrong end of a seven-goal thriller against Inter Milan.
Fiorentina were 3-2 up at San Siro with less than five minutes remaining, but late goals from Romelu Lukaku and Danilo D’Ambrosio swung the game in Inter’s favour.
Ultimately, Iachini will be proud of his team’s efforts so far this term. Three points from a possible six isn’t a bad return at all.
On the other hand, Sampdoria head into Matchday 3 desperate for a win having lost their opening two games of the season.
La Samp were crushed 3-0 by Juventus on Matchday 1 before losing 3-2 to newly-promoted Benevento last time out.
Goals from Fabio Quagliarella and Omar Colley saw Sampdoria race into a 2-0 lead inside 18 minutes last weekend. But a second-half capitulation handed Benevento all three points.
It is still early days, but there is no denying that Claudio Ranieri will already be desperate to guide his side out of the bottom three.
Head-to-head: Fiorentina got the better of Sampdoria on both occasions last season, claiming a 2-1 home win before thrashing La Samp 5-1 in the reverse fixture.
In fact, Fiorentina are unbeaten in their previous four Serie A meetings against Sampdoria, with La Samp’s last victory in this fixture coming back in 2018.
Team news: Fiorentina’s only doubt concerns Erick Pulgar, as the defensive midfielder is lacking match fitness. Other than that, Iachini has a full-strength squad to choose from.
Sampdoria are likely to be without winger Felice D’Amico as he continues to recover from a foot injury. But more importantly, Ranieri will be hoping that veteran striker – and top scorer – Quagliarella is fit.
It is worth pointing out that Fiorentina have won three straight home games in Serie A and have only lost two of their previous 11 league games.
It is also worth mentioning that Sampdoria have lost five of their last six Serie A games and have been defeated by two or more goals in three of their last six away outings.
Forebet predicts that Fiorentina will score over 1.5 goals on their way to victory over Sampdoria on Friday.