Parma are searching for a new home victory following the 3-1 defeat at San Paolo, but they could face a tough task against in-form Fiorentina. Viola continued the good run of results by recording a comfortable victory over very good Catania side and the Artemio Franchi outfit now aim to record the first victory on the road.

Decent start for Parma

Parma managed to establish themselves as genuine mid table side last season, and the club chiefs have done well to keep the squad very competitive. They may have stayed without the number one player on the teamsheet, Sebastian Giovinco, but in came Amauri, Parolo, Belfodil, Pabon and Ninis, to name just a few. As a result, il Ducali now boast a very good side that are expected to mount a serious top 10 challenge, even if the start of the season could have been better. Nonetheless, while losing to title contenders Juventus and Napoli away, Parma recorded a 2-0 win over Chievo at home, so another home win would get them back on track. Beating very good Fiorentina side will be no easy task, but il Ducali will, nonetheless, adopt an attack-minded approach at their Ennio Tardini.

Jonathan Biabiany, Fabiano Santacrocce and Nicola Sansone remain sidelined, but Amauri could be in contention after recovering from injury.

Stevan Jovetic continue to impress

Having gotten tired of underperforming season after season, Fiorentina invested significant amount of money into new players this summer, signing players like Pizarro, Valero, Rodriguez, Toni, Fernandez and few others. Therefore, nobody was surprised to see Viola win two of their first three games, while they could have easily made it three out of three, having completely outclassed Napoli at their San Paolo. The team are brimming with confidence after the convincing victory over Catania, and there are no doubts they will attempt to record a win at Ennio Tardini as well. Their back line may found themselves under pressure because of team’s attack-minded style of play, but nobody will be too worried if the attacking department led by impressive Stevan Jovetic continues to score goals for fun.

Alberto Aquilani and Francesco Della Rocca are out injured, while Mounir El Hamdaoui is doubtful with a knee problem. Luca Toni is likely to start on the bench despite scoring against Catania.

Verdict

Both sides are in good spirits following the bright start to the season, and I have no doubts both teams will be only interested in three points at Ennio Tardini. Given that we should see a pretty open game for Serie A standards, betting on over 2.5 goals looks a good choice here.

Our prediction: Over 2.5 goals

Odds: 2.20 (6/5)

Bookmaker: 188BET