Serie A champions Juventus will be looking to continue their fight back after a slow start to the season on Sunday evening when they take on old rivals Fiorentina at the Juventus Stadium.
Despite the teams being more than 400 kilometres apart Juventus and Fiorentina have a long and difficult history which peaked in 1990 when Roberto Baggio was sold to Juventus on the day Fiorentina lost the UEFA Cup Final to their rivals from Turin. That transfer led to riots in Florence and the rivalry is still as intense as any in the world of football.
Roberto Baggio picked up a Viola scarf when subbed on his return to Florence (forzaitalianfootball.com)
Historically Juventus have had the better of the rivalry and recent meetings have saw that trend continue. The Viola have won just one of the last seven meetings and even on that occasion it was the first leg of a Coppa Italia tie and Juventus turned it around with a win in the second leg.
Juventus form
Juventus are fifth in Serie A with 27 points from their 15 games. Max Allegri's side have conceded just 11 goals in Serie A which is the second best defensive record. After winning just one of their opening six games of the season they have turned things around with just one defeat in their last nine league matches including five successive victories. However, they did lose in the Champions League away to Sevilla which saw Manchester City pip them at the top of Group D and they could now face Bayern Munich, Barcelona or Real Madrid in the last sixteen.
Fiorentina form
The Viola are second in Serie A, just one point behind leaders Internazionale. They are level with Roma as the top scorers in the league with 30 goals and if they find the net on Sunday they will have scored in 23 consecutive Serie A games which would equal a club record. Fiorentina are unbeaten in their last eight games and come into this game on the back of a victory over Belenenses of Portugal in the Europa League.
Team news
The hosts have a lengthy injury list coming into this game and look particularly short in midfield. Roberto Pereyra, Hernanes, Mario Lemina and Kwadwo Asamoah are out but Sami Khedira, Simone Zaza, Martin Caceres, Patice Evra and Mario Mandzukic have all made the match day squad and are expected to be available.
Paulo Sousa doesn't have the same injury concerns as his counterpart with Jakub Blaszczykowski and Marko Bakic expected to miss out but Nikola Kalinic looks set to be fit which will be a great boost to the visitors.
Possible teams
Juventus (3-5-2) - Buffon; Barzagli, Bonucci, Chiellini; Cuadrado, Pogba, Marchisio, Khedira, Evra; Mandzukic, Dybala
Fiorentina (3-4-2-1) - Tatarusanu; Roncaglia, Rodriguez, Astori; Bernardeschi, Vecino, Badelj, Alonso; Borja Valero, Ilicic; Kalinic
Prediction
Fiorentina will believe they have a great chance of picking up a positive result against the defending champions but Allegri's men have put their poor start behind them and finally look like the team that won the last four Scudetto's. Sousa's team will come to Turin with the intent of attacking the champions but on their day Juve are still the best team in Italy and should have enough to earn all three points.