Fiorentina host Istanbul Basaksehir at the Stadio Artemio Franchi in the Europa Conference League on Thursday night.
It is a battle between the top two in Group A, with the home side currently sitting in second, and the visitors occupying first place.
Match preview
© Reuters
Fiorentina hold a record of two wins, one draw and one defeat in the Europa Conference League so far, with both of their wins coming against Hearts, in their last two European outings.
Viola were comfortable winners in Edinburgh, prevailing 3-0 after goals from Rolando Mandragora, Cristian Kouame and Luka Jovic to get their first win on the board, with their only other previous point coming in a very disappointing 1-1 home draw against Rigas Futbola Skola.
Vincenzo Italiano's side then built on their away victory with an even more emphatic 5-1 win in the home clash against Hearts, after racing into a 4-0 lead inside 38 minutes.
However, in the Serie A matches since their encounter against the Scottish side, Gigliati have continued their poor league form, drawing 1-1 away at Lecce before losing 4-3 at home to Inter Milan in devastating fashion, as Henrikh Mkhitaryan notched the winner for Inter in the 95th minute.
Having lost 3-0 away at Basaksehir in the return fixture, Fiorentina would need to win by four goals to overtake their opponents in the group, but they will know that a win of any kind is good enough to secure progression to the knockout stages.
Indeed, Basaksehir easily dispatched Viola in the previous game, and the side are now in a habit of winning by clear margins in the Europa Conference League, winning 4-0 away at Hearts and 3-0 at home to Rigas Futbola Skola last time out.
The only time that the Grey Owls failed to take all three points was in their away clash against Rigas Futbola Skola, drawing 0-0 in Latvia, despite their opponents only having ten men for the last 20 minutes.
Emre Belozoglu's side made up for it in the return fixture though, with Deniz Turuc opening the scoring after 11 minutes, and a brace from Stefano Okaka securing a routine 3-0 win.
Consequently, Emre Belozoglu'a side secured progression to at least the knockout round playoffs against one of the teams that finishes third in their Europa League group.
Basaksehir have the opportunity to go one better, however, with qualification directly to the round of 16 confirmed if they get a point away in Florence and still in their own hands if they lose by less than three.
Team News
© Reuters
Nicolas Gonzalez will not play for Fiorentina, having picked up a hamstring injury that will rule him out until the middle of November in the match against Inter Milan last time out.
In his absence, Jonathan Ikone is likely to fill in on the right of a front three, especially considering that he scored after being brought on for the injured Gonzalez at the weekend.
Riccardo Sottil is also out, suffering with a back injury, while Gaetano Castrovilli is making progress in returning from a knee issue, but he remains doubtful for Thursday's game.
For Istanbul Basaksehir, Mesut Ozil is going to miss out with a back injury, having not played since he had a nine-minute cameo against Fiorentina in the return fixture.
Sener Ozbayrakli is edging towards recovery from an issue that has omitted him from the squad for the last five matches, and he may get some minutes in defence for the first time since August.
Serdar Gurler scored twice from the left wing in the 3-0 victory in Istanbul, and he is set to be part of a three-pronged attack, with Bertrand Traore on the opposite flank and Stefano Okaka in the middle.
Fiorentina possible starting lineup:
Terracciano; Dodo, Milenkovic, Quarta, Biraghi; Bonaventura, Amrabat, Duncan; Ikone, Cabral, Kouame
Istanbul Basaksehir possible starting lineup:
Babacan; Sahiner, Duarte, Tekdemir, Kaldirim; Ozcan, Biglia, Turuc; Traore, Gurler, Osaka
We say: Fiorentina 2-1 Istanbul Basaksehir
Fiorentina may have lost in disappointing style in the previous encounter between the two sides, but everything went right on the night for Istanbul Basaksehir, scoring three goals with three shots on target. Viola will be an improved side on home soil, and they are likely to scrape a narrow victory.
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.
