Fiorentina ended a five-game winless run with a scrappy 2-1 win in Parma last weekend and will look to build on that when Cagliari come to town.
Serie A 2019/2020
Date: Wednesday July 8th
Kick-off: 18:30
Venue: Stadio Artemio Franchi
A pair of Erick Pulgar’s spot-kicks in the first half was all Fiorentina needed to see off Parma last Sunday, and thus record their first victory in the top flight since February.
The result put them 13th on the table with 34 points to show for it, and they should not be in any real danger of being dragged into a relegation battle judging that there is at least nine points between them and Lecce who occupy the first of the drop zones.
That said, La Viola will now go in search of only their second league win on home soil since the turn of the year, but will still take time to topple 12th-placed Parma who have a healthy five points lead over them heading into the 31st round of games.
Cagliari meanwhile, saw their three-game unbeaten streak come to a grinding halt on the weekend no thanks to a Luis Muriel’s penalty for Atalanta which condemned them to their 11th league defeat of the season.
Walter Zenga’s side have a chance to move level on points with eighth-placed Verona and having secured their topflight status for next season, they could give the remaining games a real go by bouncing back with a brilliant result here.
The two clubs played out a 5-2 thriller in the reverse fixture, and this encounter should prove to be no different.
Team news
Fiorentina
German Pezzella is suspended after
the defender picked up his 10th booking of the season last time out but Dusan Vlahovic is back in the fold.
Marco Benassi is still out with injury.
Cagliari
Andrea Carboni’s red card last time out means he is suspended here, while the trio of Leonardo Pavoletti, Gastón Pereiro and Luca Ceppitelli are all on the treatment table for Cagliari.
Head to Head
In 46 competitive meetings between these two sides, Fiorentina have recorded 22 wins to Cagliari’s 14. Ten meetings have been drawn.
Team form
Fiorentina last five competitive games: DDLLW
Cagliari last five competitive games: LWWDL
Betting tips
Fiorentina’s confidence would have received a huge boost as they managed to end their winless run against Parma, while their opposition Cagliari have not performed particularly badly in recent weeks, despite the dissapointing defeat to Atalanta. With that, we find it difficult to split these two sides and will go for the case of a stalemate after the full ninety here.
The last meeting between these two at this ground ended 1-1 and we’re backing a fulltime draw yet for odds of 5/2.
However, we will also pick the Both Teams To Score market, considering the teams tendency to be entertaining in front of goal, just like they showed in the reverse fixture. It is priced 7/10 for odds.
You can view all other betting markets for this game here
