Can Fiorentina knock Roma out of two cups this season?

Thursday's Europa League clash with AS Roma will be the fourth time that the two sides have met this season. The previous encounters have resulted in one win, one loss and one draw for the viola. The win for Roma came on the first game of the season, however of late they have become quite the draw specialists, with eight of their last nine league games ending even.

Vincenzo Montella will have to contend with a lack of available strikers with Mario Gomez injured and Alessandro Diamanti and Alberto Gilardino not selected for the Europa League squad. There is an outside chance that Khouma Babacar will be fit again for this match, but the most likely scenario is that he will start from the bench. The makeshift attacking trident looks set to be made up of Mohammed Salah, Joaquin and Josip Ilicic. Stefan Savic will miss the tie after suffering a re-occurence of the thigh problem that kept him out of the Coppa Italia game with Juventus. Gonzalo Rodriguez will return to the back line after sitting out the Lazio game.

The giallorossi will be missing veteran captain Francesco Totti and look likely to field an attacking front three of Adem Ljajic,Gervinho and Juan Manuel Iturbe.

Both managers will be looking for an improvement from their respective squads, as Fiorentina lost 4-0 away to Lazio and Roma could only muster a disappointing 0-0 draw with Chievo Verona. This game could be the toughest test of the formidable character of Fiorentina's squad as they try to bounce back from a dismal performance against Lazio.

PROJECTED LINEUPS:

FIORENTINA: (4-3-3) NETO; RICHARDS, RODRIGUEZ, BASANTA, ALONSO; MATI FERNANDEZ, PIZARRO, AQUILANI; JOAQUIN, ILICIC, SALAH

AS Roma: (4-3-3) DeSanctis; Torosidis, Manolas,Mapou, Holebas; Pjanic, De Rossi, Nainggolan; Iturbe, Ljajic, Gervinho