Fiorentina will be looking to pile more misery on Serie A's basement club Brescia when the two teams lock horns in Italy's top flight on Monday evening.
La Viola are currently 13th in the table, just five points clear of the relegation zone, while Brescia are rooted to the bottom of the division, seven points from safety ahead of the campaign's restart.
Match preview
© Reuters
Fiorentina have not played outside of Italy's top flight since the 2003-04 campaign, while they did not finish lower than fifth in Serie A between 2012 and 2016.
Back-to-back eighth-place finishes followed before ending the 2018-19 campaign in 16th, though, and there is no getting away from the fact that it has been another difficult season for the club.
Indeed, a record of seven wins, nine draws and 10 defeats from their 26 matches has brought them 30 points, leaving them in 13th, just five points clear of the relegation zone.
Giuseppe Iachini's side have only won one of their last six in the league, although they are unbeaten in their last three, recording a 5-1 win over Sampdoria before sharing the points with AC Milan and Udinese ahead of the postponement of the 2019-20 campaign at the start of March.
© Reuters
Brescia, meanwhile, are in danger of immediately dropping back into Serie B, with Diego Lopez's side facing a battle to secure their status as a top-flight club for the 2020-21 campaign.
Le Rondinelle have only won four of their 26 league matches this season, and a total of 16 points has left them bottom of the table, nine points from the safety of 17th position.
It is a big ask for the strugglers to pick up the points that they will need in the coming weeks, although the break might have helped them as they suffered three straight defeats before the lockdown period.
Brescia are yet to win a Serie A match in 2020, though, with their last success coming against Lecce in the middle of December, which is an indication of their struggles.
Fiorentina Serie A form: DLLWDD
Fiorentina form (all competitions): LLLWDD
Brescia Serie A form: LLDLLL
Team News
© Reuters
Fiorentina's squad is in good shape ahead of the start, and it would not be a surprise to see the bulk of the XI that started against Udinese on March 8 also take to the field for this match.
Federico Chiesa, who is allegedly the subject of interest from Manchester United, is likely to continue alongside Dusan Vlahovic in the final third of the field.
That said, Iachini has plenty of options for change in the final third, with the likes of Patrick Cutrone and Erick Pulgar both pushing for spots in the starting side.
As for Brescia, Andrea Cistana is once again expected to be absent with an ankle injury, while a thigh complaint is likely to see Jhon Chancellor miss out on a spot in the squad.
Mario Balotelli is unlikely to be involved for the rest of the season following a dispute with the club's hierarchy, opening up a spot in the final third, which could be filled by Alfredo Donnarumma.
Sandro Tonali's future remains the subject of much speculation, with the midfielder thought to be wanted by some of Europe's biggest clubs, and the 20-year-old will be keen to impress on his return to action.
Fiorentina possible starting lineup:
Dragowski; Milenkovic, Pezzella, Caceres; Lirola, Duncan, Badelj, Castrovilli, Igor; Chiesa, Vlahovic
Brescia possible starting lineup:
Joronen; Sabelli, Papetti, Ndoj, Martella; Bisoli, Dessena, Tonali; Zmrhal, Donnarumma, Aye
We say: Fiorentina 2-0 Brescia
It is difficult to back Brescia with any real confidence considering their problems this season. Fiorentina have been far from their best during the 2019-20 campaign, but we fancy the hosts to put an important three points on the board on their return to action.
Matt Law
Data Analysis
Our analysis of all available data, including recent performances and player stats up until an hour before kickoff, suggested the most likely outcome of this match was a Fiorentina win with a probability of 58.08%. A draw had a probability of 23.6% and a win for Brescia had a probability of 18.27%.
The most likely scoreline for a Fiorentina win was 1-0 with a probability of 13.17%. The next most likely scorelines for that outcome were 2-0 (11.34%) and 2-1 (9.62%). The likeliest drawn scoreline was 1-1 (11.17%), while for a Brescia win it was 0-1 (6.49%). The actual scoreline of 1-1 was predicted with an 11.2% likelihood.
