Preview: Fiorentina vs Torino - prediction, team news, lineups

Two teams in grim form will meet at Stadio Franchi, with both Fiorentina and Torino desperate to claim three points from Serie A's Saturday night contest.

While the Viola are still fighting for survival, Toro have recently sunk down the standings and were dumped out of the Coppa Italia in midweek.

Match preview

Just when Fiorentina looked to be turning things around after an awful first half of the season, three straight defeats have halted that momentum.

A 2-1 home loss to fellow strugglers Cagliari left them back inside the bottom three, before Paolo Vanoli's side limped out of the Coppa Italia with another home defeat against Como.

In that context, last week's trip down to Naples was not ideally timed, and they duly lost 2-1 to the reigning Serie A champions.

Manor Solomon's second-half strike did get them back into the contest, but several attempts were repelled by Napoli goalkeeper Alex Meret, as the Viola remained one point adrift of safety.

Before facing Jagiellonia Bialystok in the upcoming Conference League playoffs, Fiorentina must face high-flying Como again, after playing host to Torino.

With just two wins from 11 league games at the Franchi this season, they have also kept the fewest clean sheets in Italy's top flight: only three, compared to nine for Torino, albeit Toro have still shipped plenty of goals.

At least history will be on the hosts' side this weekend, as they have suffered just one loss across the last 35 meetings in Florence, winning 19.

After a 0-0 draw in August's reverse fixture, Torino's last victory over Fiorentina dates back three years; since then, there have been two Viola wins and four draws.

Head coach Marco Baroni was left fearing the sack before meeting his former club Lecce last week, having previously posted four consecutive league defeats.

Indeed, his team's 6-0 thrashing by Como had raised the prospect of a potential relegation fight; but a Che Adams goal was enough to see off the Salentini and take Toro nine points clear of the drop zone.

Then, in midweek, the Turin club were eliminated from the Coppa Italia by Inter Milan, losing their quarter-final tie 2-1 in Monza, as San Siro prepared to host the Winter Olympics' opening ceremony.

Wildly inconsistent, the Granata have gone 14 games without a draw since their goalless Derby della Mole clash with city rivals Juventus in early November.

So, they will hope to continue in that vein on Saturday, when a win would take them closer to safety and push Fiorentina even deeper into danger.

Fiorentina Serie A form:

W D D W L L

Fiorentina form (all competitions):

D D W L L L

Torino Serie A form:

W L L L L W

Torino form (all competitions):

L W L L W L

Team News

Vanoli will have an almost full squad to choose from when he meets his old club, as only long-term absentee Tariq Lamptey is certainly ruled out; new loan signing Daniele Rugani is a minor doubt.

Ex-Torino midfielder Rolando Mandragora is Fiorentina's six-goal top scorer in Serie A, while all five of Moise Kean's league goals have come on home turf at Stadio Franchi.

They will both hope to be promoted from the bench after making cameo appearances against Napoli, while fit-again winger Fabiano Parisi aims to displace Solomon.

Torino's absence list is much more significant: Ivan Ilic, Gvidas Gineitis, Zakaria Aboukhlal and Ardian Ismajli are all injured, and former Fiorentina striker Giovanni Simeone is still struggling with a thigh problem.

Furthermore, recent acquisition Matteo Prati must join captain Nikola Vlasic on the sidelines due to suspension.

Duvan Zapata - who has previously scored six Serie A goals against Fiorentina - will vie with Adams, Alieu Njie and new boy Sandro Kulenovic to feature up front.

Fiorentina possible starting lineup:

De Gea; Dodo, Comuzzo, Pongracic, Gosens; Fagioli; Solomon, Mandragora, Brescianini, Gudmundsson; Kean

Torino possible starting lineup:

Paleari; Marianucci, Maripan, Coco; Pedersen, Casadei, Ilkhan, Anjorin, Lazaro; Adams, Zapata