Fiorentina somewhat made amends for the home defeat to Lazio by bringing one point from Cesena, but another home win would be a great way to return to the right track. Catania continued the good home run by coming from behind to beat Inter, but their travel sickness looks ready to continue.

Jury is still out

Plagued by numerous injury and suspension problems, Fiorentina largely struggled to hit the ground running last season and by the time they have woken up, it was already too late to create something special. There have been some positive signs before the start of the new season, however, notably the return of Stevan Jovetic and club’s decision to hold on to star players Montolivo, Gilardino and Vargas, but the results have been pretty inconsistent. Viola did outplay very good Napoli side at San Paolo and brought one point from Cesena, while recording comfortable wins over Parma and Bologna, but the home defeat to Lazio was seen as a major blow. Fiorentina now have a good chance to return to winning ways as they play host to one of the worst travelers in Serie A, with everybody expecting Gilardino’s replacement Santiago Silva to finally start scoring. Juan Manuel Vargas is expected to return to the side after he was dropped for disciplinary reasons, and he should be able to make what is already a pretty good creative department even better.

Alberto Gilardino and Per Kroldrup remain sidelined, while Andrea Lazzari will be relegated to the bench.

Predictable Catania

The side from Sicily have already established quite a reputation at their Massimino, with even the strongest sides in Serie A facing big problems when playing Catania away. The Elephants are now a real force to be reckoned with at home, as witnessed by the victories over Cesena and Inter, and a credible draw against Juventus, although they should have done better than the goalless draw against Siena in their opening game. However, Catania also remain one of the worst travelers in Italy’s top flight, so nobody was surprised to see them lose 3:0 to Genoa, while they were very lucky to avoid defeat in Novara, having scored the equalizer in injury time. The Elephants will try to keep the opposition strikers at bay by adopting a defensive approach, but with players like Jovetic, Cerci, Vargas and Montolivo in the side, Fiorentina should be able to find their way to Mariano Andujar’s goal.

Catania have some important missings as David Suazo, Pablo Alvarez, Ciro Capuano, Cristian Llama and Pablo Ledesma are all sidelined.

Verdict

Fiorentina have been pretty convincing at their Artemio Franchi this season and with Juan Manuel Vargas back to the side, they should be able to keep the high standard of performances. Catania not only have big problems away from home, but are also missing quite a few first team regulars, so home win looks like a good choice here.

Our prediction: Home win

Odds: 1.75 (3/4)

Bookmaker: 888Sport