Biraghi and Fernandes suspended against Chievo Verona

As we try to settle our nerves after that absolutely bonkers match against Sampdoria on Sunday and look ahead to Chievo Verona this week, it can be easy to forget that there’s an impact to the craziness we witnessed. To whit, Cristiano Biraghi and Edimilson Fernandes will both be out of commission due to suspensions; the former picked up his fifth yellow card of the season for a kerfuffle with Albin Ekdal, while the latter earned his second card in 30 minutes after a blindingly bad challenge on Gastón Ramírez.

If there’s a silver lining, though, it’s in the rotational options. Everyone’s excited to see David Hancko start at leftback after his brilliant debut half against SPAL; he’s only gotten 3 minutes since then as Stefano Pioli has opted for continuity at the back. Still, this is the perfect opportunity for the 4-time capped Slovenian international to show what he can do, and against a relatively toothless opponent in Chievo, who sit bottom of the table and were on the wrong end of a 6-1 thrashing in Florence earlier this year. Following news that Pantaleo Corvino rejected a €20 million offer from Zenit St. Petersburg for the 21-year-old, it’s clear that he’s central to Fiorentina’s long-term plans. Keeping him happy and handing him the occasional opportunity like this is crucial.

Finding a fill-in for Fernandes shouldn’t be too hard, either: with Marco Benassi, Bryan Dabo, and Christian Nørgaard all available, Pioli certainly has options. While it’d hardly be a surprise for Benassi (still Fiorentina’s leading scorer until Luis Muriel bags another couple of braces) to return to his usual spot on the right side of midfield, Dabo’s brilliance in shoring up the short-handed Viola midfield last week against Samp ought to have earned him a bigger role going forward as well. However, we’ve heard that it’ll actually be Nørgaard who gets the nod against Chievo, as his discipline and calm should help Fiorentina control a match that they really should dominate from start to finish.