Fiorentina have stopped losing to Juventus, but not yet started winning at the Franchi
Paolo Vanoli's side are unbeaten in four league meetings with Juventus, the last of them a 2-0 win in Turin in May, yet five league matches in Florence this season have brought them no win. Juventus arrive seventh, without Kenan Yildiz, Manuel Locatelli, Khéphren Thuram or Andrea Cambiaso, and without a word from Luciano Spalletti before the game.
Fiorentina have scored more league goals than Juventus this season, 15 to 13, and stand nine places below them. The difference is at the other end, where Fiorentina have let in 23 and Juventus ten, and it has been sharpest in Florence: Frosinone won 3-0 there, Torino 2-1 and Como 3-1, and Napoli and Atalanta left with draws.
Juventus should win narrowly: they concede far less often than Fiorentina, who have yet to win a league match at home this season.
"We are missing a win at the Franchi, in front of our own supporters," Paolo Vanoli said on Saturday. He came back for a second spell in September, after Fabio Grosso was sacked following three straight defeats, the one to Frosinone on the club's centenary among them, and Monday's 4-2 at Sassuolo was only their second league win. Winning helps you win, he said.
Juventus are the visitors who suit that argument best. Fiorentina have not lost in four league meetings with them, and Vanoli has faced Spalletti's side twice without defeat: 1-1 in Florence a year ago and 2-0 in Turin in May, when Cher Ndour and Rolando Mandragora scored. That win still costs Fiorentina, since Fabiano Parisi tore a cruciate ligament in it and is not expected back before January.
Spalletti has not given his usual press conference, the club citing the run of fixtures, and his squad explains some of the silence. Yildiz, Locatelli, Thuram and Cambiaso are out. Yet Juventus have won 2-0 against Napoli and 2-1 at AZ Alkmaar on Thursday, and their league results since October have swung from a 3-0 home defeat by Lazio to a 2-0 win at Lecce and back. "Juventus are always Juve," Vanoli said. "In difficulty they raise their game."
Juventus are seventh, six points behind Como in fourth, and go into the international break on a third straight win or a fourth league defeat. Fiorentina can stretch their run against them with a draw. Vanoli asked for something else, and a draw at the Franchi is what they have had twice already.
