With a will to prove themselves after the international break in mind, Fiorentina take on Atalanta at the Stadio Artemio Franchi on Sunday. Having been thrashed by Inter Milan in their last match, Fiorentina are now aiming to overtake their rivals in the table and avoid falling further behind in the early going.
Despite his seriously erratic attacking mindset, the Fiorentina side have yet to win a league game since the start of the campaign. Although they managed to advance to the Europa League group stage against Rapid Vienna, they suffered a major defeat before international soccer took center stage. The Fiorentina side romped to a 4-0 loss at the stadium, with just two shots on target illustrating their problems at the attacking end, despite having far more possession. However, despite the drubbing in the second leg, Fiorentina's four points from their first three matches of the new season is quite a remarkable performance after scoring just five points from their first five matches of the 2022-23 season.
After a two-week tune-up, the Fiorentina side will return home to Florence, where they drew with in-form Lecce in their season-opening home game. Last year, Fiorentina's grueling run between the regular season and the Europa League was the theme of their eventual run to the final, and the Tuscan club will kick off their latest tour of Europe next week, with the first leg coming against Genk in their third consecutive away game.
As a result, Sunday's game will be the last chance for the Fiorentina team to impress their fans at Frankie Stadium this month. Atalanta arrive on the back of two wins and one loss in their four most recent matches, while Fiorentina have won just three of their first 14 games. When these two teams met in the Lombardy region last October, an Ademola Lookman goal separated them, and five months later they played out a 1-1 draw at Fiorentina. Following that result, Atlanta won two of their final four road games against Fiorentina and lost just one. They won just two of their first 37 matches, a period that stretched from 1962 to 2018.
Atalanta have started the season brightly and have not been plagued by any of the qualifying problems that Fiorentina had as their fifth-place finish last season went straight into the Europa League group stage, where champions Rakov Czestochowa await them the following week.
Atalanta have completed two clean sheets in their first three games, having shockingly lost to the offending Frosinone on either side of defeats to Sassuolo and Monza. And after the summer signings of Charles de Cetere and Gianluca Scamacca, they appear to be in a strong position to make a push for the top four. The latter helped beat the challenge of Monza shortly before the international break, which should reassure fans that despite the departures of Duvan Zapata and Rasmus Hoylum, Gian Piero Gasperini still has plenty of firepower at his disposal. Now, ahead of Lacov's visit to Bergamo on Thursday night, Gasperini's new faces face off against their likely rivals for a Europa League place this season as they aim to gain more points.
Although they have built a squad capable of handling both domestic and European competitions, the Fiorentina side will have to cope without several players this weekend as Yerry Mina returns from the squad injured and joins Jonathan Icone and Gaetano Castrovilli on the injury list. Recent signing Maxime Lopez remains suspended but Czech midfielder Antonin Barak should return. Likely to feature up front, M'Barra N'Zara scored three goals and assisted once in four Serie A games against Atalanta, his best performance against any club, and the former Spezia striker should be able to hold off the pressure of Lucas Beltran's bid for a starting spot.
Atlanta's most notable absentee will be record signing El Bilal Toure, who has yet to play due to a serious pre-season injury, so Gianluca Scamacca is expected to lead Atlanta's attack. Meanwhile, in the midfield, the Dutch duo of Tevin Kupménes and Maarten de Roon have been part of an attacking organization that has taken a league-high 22 shots on goal already this season, tied with Henrikh Muhitaryan and Piotr Zielinski.
SCORE PREDICTION: Fiorentina 1-1 Atalanta Fiorentina may have to wait for their first home win of the season, as Atalanta were one of the best away teams last season and have already accomplished two shutouts this season. Both teams will have one eye on their upcoming European campaigns, so a draw could be an acceptable result for either coach.
