Fiorentina and Roma both search for victories to kick-start Serie A season

Neither Fiorentina nor Roma’s seasons have fully ignited yet — but this could be the game that changes that.

A quick glance at the Serie A table shows that Fiorentina and Roma are just three points of the Champions League places, but even so, neither team has been at their best yet this campaign.

Fiorentina are currently sixth, while Roma are eighth; they have the same record of four wins, three draws and three defeats and are separated only by goal difference.

Roma, in particular, would have been expecting better. They got a very respectable draw with Napoli last time out, but before that lost 2-0 at home to SPAL. It has certainly been a mixed start.

Fiorentina, meanwhile, have drawn their last two league matches and lost to Lazio before that, and so have hit a bit of a rut.

You would anticipate that at some point both teams would improve their form, and this game could be the place to start.

Key battles

Stefan Piolo’s Fiorentina side certainly looks the weaker on paper, but they are more than capable of stepping up in big games such as this.

In midfield, Roma’s Daniele De Rossi and Steven N’Zonzi will line-up against Jordan Veretout, Edimilson Fernandes and Marco Benassi. Former Sevilla man N’Zonzi, especially, has the ability to run the game from the engine room, and he could be crucial if Roma are to win the game.

Lorenzo Pellegrini and Cengiz Under are two more of Roma’s dangermen from an attacking perspective. The former has only one league goal and two assists, though, despite his quality, while the latter has managed one more assist.

Even though they are very young, it would be expected that their output will increase soon.

Vitor Hugo and German Pezzella at the centre of Fiorentina’s defence will need to marshall Edin Dzeko as best they can. The focal point of Roma’s attack, the Bosnian is the one who can knit together their attacking play, so keeping him quiet will be crucial.

Roma’s Stephan El Shaarawy scored last time out against Napoli and he is another attacker to deal with for the hosts.

Kostas Manolas and Juan Jesus will face a front three of former Everton man Kevin Mirallas, Valentin Eysseric and Federico Chiesa. Marko Pjaca and Giovanni Simeone are also attacking options for La Viola.

Previous meetings

Roma have the edge in recent meetings, winning 12 times to Fiorentina’s six the last 21 matches between the sides.

Last year, Fiorentina won 2-0 in Rome and Roma won 4-2 in Florence, and the same thing happened the season before, with Roma winning once and Fiorentina once, albeit by different scorelines.

Generally, games between the sides have not been won by more than two goals, although there have been occasions where Roma have won 4-1 or 4-0 sporadically.

Fiorentina also won 3-0 in Rome in the Europa League in March 2015, which was the last time they scored more than two goals against Roma.

Given that neither side has been blistering this season, lots of goals would be surprising — a tenser, more even game should be in store.