Fiorentina have high ambitions this season and the Tuscany club are hoping for a winning start to the new Serie A campaign. Bologna, on the other hand, are looking to get at least one point from Artemio Franchi, but the Rossoblu could face a tough task in the absence of several very important players.

Fiorentina hoping for a bright start

Fiorentina boss Sinisa Mihajlovic faced big selection problems at the start of his reign at Artemio Franchi, which was one of the main reasons behind Viola’s slow start to the last Serie A campaign. As the important players started to return to the side, Fiorentina began to show a lot of improvement, but the poor finish of the season saw them end the campaign in 11th place. However, everybody at the club expect to see a big uptrend in fortunes this term and there are numerous reasons for that. The club not only managed to keep hold of star players Ricardo Montolivo and Alberto Gilardino, but they boosted the ranks with Andrea Lazzari, Houssine Kharja, Santiago Silva and Mattia Cassani, among others, whereas influential forward Stevan Jovetic finally returned into action after missing the big part of last season with a broken leg. Seeing that Sinisa Mihajlovic has the courtesy of choosing from virtually fully fit squad, everybody at the club expect a victory over Bologna.

Centre-back Per Kroldrup is the only absentee at the moment, meaning that Fiorentina will be virtually at full strength. Cerci, Gilardino and Jovetic are set to form the attacking trident, whereas Andrea Lazzari will be preferred to out-of-form Juan Manuel Vargas.

Big selection problems for Bisoli

Bologna managed to survive last season much easier than anyone had expected, even if they finished the league campaign just above the bottom three. Coach Alberto Malesani, who managed to get the best out of this team left to join Genoa, and the fans are not really convinced that his replacement Pierpaolo Bisoli can repeat the success of his predecessor. The squad have undergone some changes over the summer, with key players Viviano, Britos and Della Rocca all leaving, but some very good players were brought to replace them. Acquafresca, Gillet, Antonsson, Vitale, Diamanti, Raggi, Loria and Kone all arrived, but they will obviously need some time to adapt to the new surroundings. All things considered, Bologna should be able to survive this season as well, but they are likely to struggle against very good Fiorentina side, with several important players missing out through injury or suspension.

Defenders Gyorgy Garics, Cesare Rickler and Niccolo Cherubin are all sidelined, meaning that calamitous Simone Loria is set to start at the heart of defence, while important players Jose Crespo, Daniele Vantaggiato and Gaston Ramirez are all banned.

Verdict

Fiorentina look much stronger than last season and they are finally at full strength, so Sinisa Mihajlovic’s side should be able to take advantage of Bologna’s problems and start the season with a win. Bologna will need some time to adapt to life without Malesani and with so many regular starters unavailable, they don’t look capable of getting anything from Artemio Franchi.

Our prediction: Fiorentina with -0.75 Asian handicap

Odds: 1.85 (17/20)

Bookmaker: 188BET