Fiorentina will look to cut the gap on the teams chasing Inter Milan at the top of Serie A when they host struggling Atalanta tomorrow.
The Florence side have won four games at home this season and will be hoping to get back on track although they can feel aggrieved over their last game when a late penalty gave Inter Milan all three points.
Spirits will be high this week after they guaranteed their Champions League progress with victory over Lyon.
But despite being the better team for most of the game, they do seem to be losing their step in Serie A. Following the 1-0 defeat to the Nerazzurri last weekend, Prandelli's side slipped all the way down to 10th spot in the table. More worrying still is the fact that they are struggling to score goals; they have just 15 from 14 games, less than Palermo, Napoli and even Chievo.
Prandelli will have to do without ever-present midfielder Marco Marchionni, who picked up a muscular strain in the game against Inter last weekend and will be out for around ten days.
Striker Adrian Mutu also misses out but should be back for the game against Milan on December 19. Stevan Jovetic will probably return to the starting X1.
Atalanta, on the other hand, are 17th in the league with 12 points, although their away record is respectable, the Nerazzurri having won twice on their travels.
Last time out they lost 2-1 to Roma despite leading until just before half-time and going down to their eighth defeat of the season. However, if they are going to survive this season, they are going to have to fight for their lives.
Conte will be without the services of Valdes, Thomas Manfredini and Edgar Barreto, who are injured, while Federico Peluso returns from suspension.
REVIEW:
Fiorentina bounced back from two successive league defeats with an impressive victory at home to Atalanta.
As expected the hosts were the more dominating side in the opening exchanges. Fiorentina's first chance came as early as the fourth minute when Marco Donadel discerned Mario Santana on the right and the Fiorentina midfielder sent in a low cross only for it to be cleared away.
A minute later Manuel Pasqual tried to send Juan Vargas through when he carved in a low pass from the left but Atalanta defender Paolo Bianco cleared the ball away for a corner.
Just moments later the Florence-based side had yet another chance when Riccardo Montolivo sent in a delicious ball from just outside the penalty area but the subsequent shot was parried away by Atalanta custodian Andrea Consigli.
In the 12th minute Montolivo intelligently passed the ball wide to Vargas, who whipped in a brilliant cross, but there was no one inside the Atalanta penalty box to head it home.
A minute later Santana whipped in a cross from the right but Jovetic's header went way over the crossbar. Then in the 15th minute the 20-year-old found himself at the end of another cross from Santana but this time his shot was admirably cleared away by Bianco.
A couple of minutes later Vargas brilliantly dispossessed Gyorgy Garics on the left side and sent in a cross but Alberto Gilardino could not keep his header on target.
Atalanta were trying to play on the break and they did get a decent chance when a long ball from inside their own half was sent out in search of Simone Tiribocchi, who did manage to get behind Dario Dainelli but was eventually flagged offside.
Donadel attempted a right-footed shot from 35 yards and went pretty close too, Atalanta goalkeeper Consigli making a fine save.
Fiorentina's domination eventually paid dividends in the 26th minute when Juan Vargas scored a belter. Receiving a pass from Jovetic near the centre-line, the 26-year-old took a short run-up and cracked a left-footed shot from over 25 yards out that rifled past Consigli into the Atalanta net.
However, that goal injected a sense of urgency and pace into Atalanta's game and they came out of their shell. The visitors' lack of quality was evident as the Fiorentina defenders could easily read their passes and kept their attacking players at bay.
Fabio Ceravolo collected the ball to the left of the area and saw his shot blocked before Tiberio Guarente hit the rebound high and wide.
As half-time approached Santana hit the post with a free-kick as the Florence side went into the break on the back of an impressive 45 minutes of football.
On the hour mark Fiorentina defender Lorenzo de Silvestri earned a free-kick in a good position which Vargas failed to capitalise on.
A minute later Jovetic was forced off due to injury as Fiorentina's performance waned somewhat.
They had some defending to do in the 66th minute as Diego De Ascentis saw his excellent volley blocked.
Fiorentina regained control quickly, however, Donadel crossing for Martin Jorgensen whose volley was on target but blocked by Manfredini.
Atalanta's Jaime Valdes had been on the pitch for only 13 minutes before being dismissed for two yellow cards in the space of three minutes, the second a crude tackle from behind. Coach Conte soon followed him for his remonstrations.
And the home side got a deserved second in the last minute, substitute Jorgensen's pass being missed by the defence allowing Gilardino to lob Consigli and wrap up the win.