Lazio head into their Serie A encounter with Fiorentina on Wednesday afternoon hoping to get back to winning ways in what has been a below-par 2020-21 campaign so far.
Meanwhile, Fiorentina were unable to build on their impressive away victory against Juventus as they could only draw at home to Bologna last weekend.
Match preview
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Lazio were left frustrated once again last weekend as they could only draw 1-1 away at Genoa.
I Biancocelesti opened the scoring through none other than striker Ciro Immobile when he dispatched his spot kick in the 15th minute, but Mattia Destro's second half strike proved to be enough to secure a point for Genoa despite the home side dominating for much of the match.
Simone Inzaghi's side have now won just once in their last five league games and sit ninth in Serie A, eight points behind rivals Roma in fourth place.
Lazio have a good record against Fiorentina, as they are unbeaten in their last seven meetings with them, winning both of their two encounters in the 2019-20 season by a 2-1 scoreline.
Inzaghi will be keen for his side to head into the derby match with Roma in under two weeks' time with good form under their belts by securing three points against two more struggling sides in La Viola and then Parma, who they face next week.
Victory in midweek would be Lazio's seventh of the season and could see them move up to eighth, one point off the European places.
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Fiorentina drew their sixth Serie A match of the season and their third in four games as they played out a drab 0-0 draw at home to Bologna last weekend, failing to have a single shot on target.
Only Juventus and Parma have drawn more matches than La Viola, who have struggled to secure three points in games throughout the 2020-21 campaign.
Their surprise victory against Juve before Christmas is their only league victory in their last nine matches – only the bottom five in the table have won fewer matches so far this season.
Manager Cesare Prandelli, who is currently in his second spell in charge of the club, is keen for his side to learn from their impressive win in Turin and hopes that it can give them confidence to move away from danger and move further up the table.
Claiming three points on Wednesday could see Fiorentina move into the top half of the table, seven points clear of the relegation zone.
Lazio Serie A form: WLDWLD
Lazio form (all competitions): DLDWLD
Fiorentina Serie A form: DLDDWD
Team News
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Lazio forward Joaquin Correa is ruled out with a calf injury, while midfielder Marco Parolo (ankle) and wing-back Mohamed Fares (hip) are also unavailable.
Midfielder Lucas Leiva is suspended for Wednesday's match after picking up his fifth yellow card of the season against Genoa. Gonzalo Escalante is likely to start as a result.
Fiorentina boss Cesare Prandelli has no injury concerns heading into their clash with Lazio and is unlikely to make many changes to his side.
Left-back Cristiano Biraghi is back from suspension and is set to start ahead of Lorenzo Venuti, who played in the last match against Genoa.
Lazio possible starting lineup:
Reina; Filipe, Acerbi, Radu; Lazzari, Milinkovic-Savic, Escalante, Alberto, Marusic; Muriqi, Immobile
Fiorentina possible starting lineup:
Dragowski; Milenkovic, Pezzella, Igor; Caceres, Amrabat, Bonaventura, Castrovilli, Barreca; Vlahovic, Ribery
We say: Lazio 2-1 Fiorentina
Both sides are in need of a victory which they hope will signal the start of a run of good results to move them higher up the table. Lazio, who will go into Wednesday's fixture as the favourites, should have enough quality in the final third to edge past Fiorentina.
Top betting tip
Oliver Thomas
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 Lazio win with a probability of 53.15%. A win for Fiorentina had a probability of 24.19% and a draw had a probability of 22.7%.
The most likely scoreline for a Lazio win was 2-1 with a probability of 9.76%. The next most likely scorelines for that outcome were 1-0 (8.84%) and 2-0 (8.23%). The likeliest Fiorentina win was 1-2 (6.22%), while for a drawn scoreline it was 1-1 (10.48%). The actual scoreline of 2-1 was predicted with a 9.8% likelihood. Our data analysis correctly predicted a 2-1 win for Lazio in this match.
