Fiorentina-AS Roma
Football: Italian Serie A
Sunday, 07th February 2010. Kickoff 20:45

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Fiorentina

Cesare Prandelli’s men have had disastrous times in Serie A lately. Recent set backs against Bologna, Palermo and Cagliari (2 defeats and 1 draw) have sent Friuli down to 9th place. Further loss of points on Sunday would practically put an end to their Champions’ League qualification hopes.

Nobody would put the quality of this squad under any doubt. Still a lot of things have been just not going right for them. It has now become obvious Fiorentina doesn’t have the depth to compete for 3 titles at a time (UCL,Coppa Italia and Serie A); one of the leaders,Adrian Mutu, got suspended again for failing a doping test; injury list seems ever crowded, et cetera. Hosting Roma in front of home fans could be the right moment to turn fortunes around. With Champions’ League play offs just around the corner – Prandelli knows self esteem has to be restored.

Fiorentina is w/o central defenders Kroldrup and Felipe. Both are regulars and, of course, will be missed. Absence of defensive midfielder Cristiano Dzanetti can’t be overestimated, in my opinion. Veteran has been gluing the midfield together for Fiorentina on regular basis.

Antonio Cassano reportedly “joined” Friuli on-loan after the Mutu incident, but as it usually the case with Italian media – the news were ahead of the facts. Brazilian prodigy Keirisson arrived from Barcelona and should appear in the second half.

Expected formation and line up :
Fiorentina(4-2-3-1)
Frey
De Silvestri,Gamberini,Natali,Pasquale
Donadel,Montolivo
Marchionni,Jovetic,Juan Vargas
Gilardino

AS Roma

Roma continues the remarkable revival under Claudio Ranieri. Lupi are steaming forward in all competitions. Most recently in midweek Giallorossi easily took a 2-0 lead against Udinese in the Coppa Italia semifinal.Days before a hard fought victory against low Siena allowed Roma to leap frog AC Milan into the second place of the Serie A.

Totti and Vucinic, who both missed the difficult match vs. Siena at the weekend, came back to face Udine. Influential duo is expected to start in Florence in the line up, which has been very constant over the weeks. A couple of forced changes will have to be made by Ranieri, though.On-loan from Inter center back Burdisso is suspended, which gives the green light to former Juan's partner - Philip Mexes. Playboy frenchman scored a goal against Udinese in the Cup, but also added a minor injury to the list of personal highlights.If he doesn't manage to overcome the knock - Ranieri will have to use an experimental defensive line up.

Elsewhere Luca Toni is injured until March and Jeremy Menez is rated "doubtful" as he can't shake off a knee problem.

Expected formation and line up :
Roma (4-2-3-1)
Julio Sergio
Cassetti, Juan,Mexes, Riise
De Rossi,Pizzaro
Taddei, Perrotta, Vucinic
Totti

Betting advice

Although I hate betting against my favorite team, but guts tell me Roma should suffer a set back in Florence. Ranieri conservatism has to backfire sooner or later. Using the same line up over and over again without much rotation...

It will be a physical battle, no doubt about it. Fiorentina also had a midweek clash in Coppa Italia and their legs aren't gonna be fresh either.

I am leaning towards a home win and an under here.Since over/unders are always more of a gamble than anything else - my 5 cents go to the hosts. The ones who seem to be more motivated in front of home supporters.

The Statistics :

HANDICAP BETTING :

Take Fiorentina (0) @ 1.72 with Bet365