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Fiorentina vs Lazio: Preview

Another fun matchup for the slumping viola

US Sassuolo v ACF Fiorentina - Serie A Photo by Maurizio Lagana/Getty Images

Fiorentina takes on Lazio in a late afternoon matchup in Florence on Saturday May 13. The game time is 6 pm which is 12 noon eastern standard time. This will be a fun matchup between two teams that are in the upper part of the Serie A table. The game between these two teams earlier this season ended up with a 3-1 win for Lazio in Rome. In the grand scheme of things this game does not mean much for either team heading towards the end of the season. Therefore, at this point it is a game for pride and building towards next season.

Lazio

Lazio comes in on a three game winning streak and sits at 4th in Serie A. They are just out of reach of a real chance to move up to 3rd in the table, but do sit in a Europa League spot. Lazio also does have a matchup in the Coppa Italia final against Juventus on Wednesday. That means that some of the top players for Lazio might not be available for the club because they have such a quick turnaround against the best team in Italy and one of the best teams in Europe.

The last game the team played was against Sampdoria and ended up being a blowout. Lazio scored 7 goals by 6 different athletes. They really spread the wealth around in that win, while seeing a great performance from some of their top players. The team is playing well and will look to continue their great run of form when they take on Fiorentina.

Fiorentina

La Viola comes into the matchup with Lazio in inconsistent form. The team from Florence sits 8th in the standings and is in a tough position to be successful this campaign. There are only three games left in the season and there is not much room for improvement in the standings. That does not mean there is nothing to play for though. Fiorentina has a lot of young players that could use some playing time to get their feet wet in professional football.

The last match was a 2-2 tie against Sassuolo. It almost was a loss but Federico Bernardeschi saved the day by scoring a clutch goal at the end of the match. Hopefully, Fiorentina can build on this and continue to use the same lineup they have been trotting out there lately. It would be nice to see some young players get extended looks, but Sousa will probably push out the old guard like he always does.

Fiorentina will go with there normal 3-4-2-1 this week. They will probably deploy Kalinic up top flanked by a combo of Borja Valero and Federico Bernardeschi. The Defense will get Davide Astori back but lose Gonzalo Rodriguez to a suspension because of the red card he received last week. Another omission from the squad will be Milan Badelj who is currently injured.

Prediction

With a repeat of the score in Rome from earlier in the season Lazio will win 3-1. This will be a hard fought match but Fiorentina will ultimately lose out to the stronger side late in the match.