Fiorentina travel to the Ligurian capital of Genoa to face Fabio Liverani's side in Sunday nights kick off. Vincenzo Montella's charges will look to build on their impressive opening day performance against Catania by claiming maximum points for the second week running.
Genoa, however, will not be easy meat for la viola, the rossoblu were well organized in their opener against Inter at the Giuseppe Meazza but were eventually overcome thanks to the home sides' superior quality. They will no doubt need that same defensive solidity to keep Fiorentina at bay.
While, Liverani will be bouyed with the sturdy defence in Milan, there are worries that Genoa are lightweight upfront. The grifone hardly fashioned any chances in their opener and did not even manage a single shot on target. Liverani has called for patience from the fans and insists that the days of Diego Milito and Thiago Motta are over if any genovese were under illusions of grandeur.
Fiorentina, meanwhile, are on the back of a good performance against Catania where they eventually triumphed 2-1, thanks to goals from Giuseppe Rossi and David Pizzaro, the latter of which whose mistake it was that lead to Catania's equaliser. But it was the performance of Juan Cuadrado that will have the Fiorentina fans excited. Unfortunately for the viola faithful the Colombian will miss this weekends match due to a calf strain. Josip Iličič could make his first start for Fiorentina in Cuadrado's place, the Slovenian replaced him in midweek's Europa League match against Grasshoppers.
It's not all rosy in the viola garden however, Montella's men suffered a shock defeat to Grasshopper Zurich own home turf in Thursday's Europa League playoff despite fielding a strong starting eleven. Montella will certainly be wary of any complacency from his players at the Marassi against a determined Genoa.
The last time these sides met was on the 17th of March, when Fiorentina triumphed 3-2 thanks to an own goal by Mattia Cassani, who ironically was on loan from Fiorentina at the time!
Probable line-ups
Genoa (4-3-2-1): Perrin,Vrsaljko, Portanova, Manfredini Antonelli, Cofie, Lodi Kucka, Bertolacci, Santana, Gilardino
Fiorentina (3-5-2): Neto, Savic, Rodriguez, Compper, Iličič , Aquilani, Pizzaro, Valero, Pasqual, Rossi, Gomez
Players to look
Mattia Perrin: The former Pescara number one showed great maturity in his first season in Serie A. This season, the young keeper will probably not have to put up with a porous defence like Pescara's class of 2012/2013 but he will have to be in top form to keep Fiorentina's exciting attack at bay.
Mario Gomez: The German international has yet to put his name on the scoresheet in a league match for his new team, including an embarassing miss with the goal at his mercy against Catania. SuperMario will no doubt be hungry to correct that and could score his first goal in Serie A.
Prediction: Expect Montella's men to dominate possession but find it hard to break through Genoa's sturdy defensive wall. But much like Inter last week, their superior quality should see them collect maximum points. It won't be easy as stated elsewhere, but Montella wants his team to "suffer" and they will certainly not be given an easy ride at the Marassi this Sunday.