Preview: Lazio vs. Fiorentina - prediction, team news, lineups

Fresh off a dramatic victory over Cremonese, Fiorentina head to the capital to face Lazio at Stadio Olimpico in Wednesday’s 19th round, aiming to record a fourth consecutive Serie A win in this fixture.

While Maurizio Sarri’s side have historically dominated games involving both teams at the Olimpico, they have fired blanks in their past two league fixtures in front of their fans — the latter of which was Sunday’s heated defeat against Napoli — and lost last season’s corresponding match 2-1 a year ago.

Match preview

Lazio and Fiorentina are separated by eight places in the Serie A table, but that guarantees little for Sarri’s team, who have won just one of their last six games in the competition.

Although the capital club entered their first fixture of 2026 on a four-match unbeaten run, only one win was recorded in that period; Antonio Conte’s Napoli halted the false positive sequence in a fiercely heated game that witnessed three red cards.

Tijjani Noslin and Adam Marusic were dismissed for the hosts in the final 10 minutes as emotions spiralled out of control on both sides — Pasquale Mazzocchi saw red for the Partenopei — with Sarri’s team falling to their sixth league defeat of 2025-26.

The Biancocelesti were already facing an uphill challenge at the time of Noslin’s second yellow, having fallen 2-0 down to goals from Leonardo Spinazzola and Amir Rrahmani, and the ninth-placed club never recovered.

Entering the mid-point of the season with just 18 goals scored — no team in the top half has scored fewer — and without one in 232 minutes since Gustav Isaksen’s strike against Bologna on December 7, the hosts are in danger of falling into the bottom half if they slip up and results elsewhere go against them.

With Sassuolo and Torino a point behind, Udinese two adrift and Cremonese trailing by three, Sarri’s team will be looking over their shoulders, especially as the threat of falling to a fourth consecutive loss to the Viola looms.

That outcome was possibly unforeseen a fortnight ago, given Fiorentina’s miserable season; however, the Tuscans have now claimed two wins in their last three Serie A games, taking them to 18th spot on 12 points — level with Pisa and Hellas Verona in 19th and 20th, respectively — three points shy of safety.

While pressure on Paolo Vanoli remains, the manager’s joy was evident at the end of Sunday’s win over promoted Cremonese, especially considering the circumstances, as Moise Kean scored a winner in the second minute of stoppage time at the end of the match.

Kean’s goal was his fifth of the season — six in all competitions — but, while he is tied with Inter Milan’s Lautaro Martinez for goals scored in home fixtures, the Italy international has yet to find the back of the net away from Florence this term.

That leaves Vanoli scratching his head as to how to mastermind Fiorentina’s first away win in Serie A since beating Udinese 3-2 in May last year and a first across all competitions since a 3-0 triumph at Rapid Vienna in October.

Six of their subsequent seven matches on the road have ended in disappointment, with the Viola failing to score in four, highlighting their struggles away from home.

That means the Florence-based club’s prospects of securing another victory against Wednesday’s opponents are reduced, as they strive to claim back-to-back wins at Lazio for the first time since 2007 and record a fourth consecutive triumph against the capital club.

Lazio Serie A form:

Lazio form (all competitions):

Fiorentina Serie A form:

Fiorentina form (all competitions):

Team News

Noslin and Marusic miss out through suspension, while Fisayo Dele-Bashiru and Boulaye Dia will not play as they are with Nigeria and Senegal at the Africa Cup of Nations, and the pair of Patric and Matias Vecino are fitness doubts; Samuel Gigot, however, is a long-term absentee and remains on the treatment table.

With Valentin Castellanos having left for West Ham United and Noslin suspended, the hosts will lean on Isaksen, Mattia Zaccagni and Pedro to carry the can in attack.

However, Isaksen and Zaccagni have scored one each across their past five appearances, while Pedro has yet to score in the league this season, magnifying the club’s wider goalscoring challenges.

Although Fiorentina suffered no apparent injury issues against Cremonese, long-term absentee Tariq Lamptey remains sidelined alongside Amir Richardson and Jacopo Fazzini, while Edin Dzeko will be assessed after missing the first match of 2026.

Kean heads to the Olimpico seeking his first away goal in Serie A, but Rolando Mandragora aims to add to his two goals on the road — five overall — as the Viola strive for a fourth consecutive win in this fixture.

Lazio possible starting lineup:

Provedel; Lazzari, Gila, Romagnoli, Pellegrini; Guendouzi, Cataldi, Basic; Isaksen, Pedro, Zaccagni

Fiorentina possible starting lineup:

De Gea; Dodo, Comuzzo, Pongracic, Ranieri; Mandragora, Fagioli; Parisi, Ndour, Gudmundsson; Kean

We say: Lazio 0-0 Fiorentina

Lazio’s 232-minute scoring drought at the Olimpico and Fiorentina’s failure to win a league game away from home since May 2025 suggest a cagey affair dominated by defensive caution.

Both sides appear to lack the clinical edge required to break the deadlock, likely resulting in a stalemate that does little to ease the pressure on either manager.

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