Fiorentina vs Lecce Preview: Team News & Prediction
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Fiorentina are somehow still winless and the pressure is mightily growing on I Viola as they welcome fellow strugglers Lecce to the Stadio Artemio Franchi this weekend.
Kick-off date/time:
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Fiorentina preview: Struggles for Pioli
Stefano Pioli and his Fiorentina side come into this one on the back of a 3-0 hammering at the hands of Internazionale at San Siro in midweek due to a brace scored by Hakan Calhanoglu, as well as a goal from Petar Sucic in the second-half.
I Viola begin the weekend sitting firmly in the bottom three and the relegation places with no victories in their opening nine Serie A matches so far and the pressure is very much on former Serie A winning coach Pioli.
Lecce preview: Steadier performance
In the midweek round of fixtures, Lecce were narrowly beaten by a goal to nil by defending champions and league leaders Napoli at Stadio Comunale Via del Mare in Apulia in a game in which the hosts missed a penalty at 0-0.
Under the management of former Frosinone and Venezia boss Eusebio Di Francesco, who took those sides down in each of the last two seasons, Lecce have managed just one win in their opening nine matches of this campaign.
Fiorentina team news: Viti suspended
Fiorentina defender Mattia Viti was sent off against Inter and is now missing through suspension, whilst wing-back Robin Gosens was also forced off through injury, too.
Predicted XI (3-5-1-1): David de Gea; Comuzzo, Pablo Mari, Pongracic; Dodo, Ndour, Sohm, Mandragora, Ranieri; Gudmundsson; Kean
Unavailable: Viti (Suspended), Lamptey (Injured), Kouame (Injured)
Questionable: Gosens (Injured)
Lecce team news: Nothing fresh
Lecce have no fresh injury concerns or suspension issues for this one with Riccardo Sottil remaining sidelined for the visitors alongside Matias Perez and Hamza Rafia.
Predicted XI (4-3-3): Falcone; Veiga, Gaspar, Tiago Gabriel, Gallo; Coulibaly, Ramadani, Berisha; Pierotti, Camarda, Banda
Unavailable: Jean (Injured), Matias Perez (Injured), Rafia (Injured), Marchwinski (Injured), Sottil (Injured)
Questionable:
Fiorentina vs Lecce prediction
This is probably last chance saloon for Stefano Pioli. They entrusted him over the summer and it has been a woeful start in Serie A, and if Fiorentina were to not defeat a very poor Lecce side then there will be a lot of pressure on Pioli to lose his job, and he probably will. Fortunately for Pioli, they are playing against an indeed very poor Lecce and Fiorentina should come out on top with home advantage, despite their poor form.
Fiorentina vs Lecce tip: Fiorentina to win
