Fiorentina vs Genoa

Fiorentina and Genoa are set to square off at the Stadio Artemio Franchi, with both sides experiencing identical fortunes from their last three Serie A games (D2, L1).

An embarrassing 4-0 defeat at Torino last time out to follow up back-to-back Serie A draws has dented Fiorentina’s hopes of achieving their first European finish since 2016/17. However, Genoa’s visit to Artemio Franchi looks like a clear-cut opportunity to get back on the rails, with ‘La Viola’ going unbeaten in their last 23 Serie A H2Hs at this venue (W11, D12), their second-longest such streak against particular opposition in the competition. Before being held to an action-packed 2-2 draw to Sassuolo in their most recent Serie A home outing, Vincenzo Italiano’s side had won five top-flight home matches in a row, notably scoring 3+ goals on each occasion. Speaking of Fiorentina’s free-scoring form, they are one of just five Serie A teams to have hit double digits in both halves of top-flight home action this season.

On the other hand, a disappointing 3-1 Coppa Italia defeat at the hands of Milan in midweek put the final nail in Andriy Shevchenko’s coffin, as Genoa relieved the Ukrainian manager of his duties in the build-up to this trip. Caretaker boss Abdoulay Konko faces an uphill task of bringing Genoa’s humiliating 18-game winless streak in Serie A to a halt (D9, L9) – the worst ongoing winless run across Europe’s top-five leagues. Since beating fellow relegation adversaries Cagliari in their first league road trip of the season, ‘Il Grifone’ have failed to win any of their last nine Serie A away games (D5, L4), conceding 2+ goals in 56% of those travels. Meanwhile, they have only scored twice in their last four league matches on hostile turf.