League leaders Internazionale host unpredictable Fiorentina at the Stadio Guiseppe Meazza, in the biggest clash of Serie A's Week 14 on Sunday.
This is the fixture Fiorentina would really have preferred to play later in the season. Nonetheless, Inter away awaits the Viola and Cesare Prandelli will have to pick his side up from their 3-2 defeat to Parma.
The midweek Champions League win against Lyon will surely have helped. The confidence gained from progressing to the knock-out stages a measure of the achievement of how far this side has come under Prandelli’s stewardship.
But Fiorentina have been inconsistent this season while Jose Mourinho’s side have been winning games on a consistent basis.
The absence of the mercurial Zlatan Ibrahimovic has been eased by the signings of prolific forwards Samuel Eto’o and Diego Milito.
Dejan Stankovic is thriving in the role behind the strikers, playing almost as a trequartista at times. The players behind him form a fearsome side, tough in the tackle but with enough creativity and ambition to provide the three attackers with chances. Genoa and Palermo can attest to this as they both shipped five against Inter this campaign.
Marauding full-back Douglas Maicon misses out due to suspension, but it is Javier Zanetti rather than Davide Santon who replaces him, as the young Italian is sidelined with an injury. Dutch playmaker Wesley Sneijder also misses out through injury, which would be a big loss to any side.
Fiorentina are aided by the return of the prolific young Serb, Stevan Jovetic, but Prandelli is likely to start him on the bench. The former Parma tactician is denied the services of his other flamboyant forward, Adrian Mutu, whose injury rules him out once more, along with centre-back Alessandro Gamberini and the suspended Marco Donadel.
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