Udinese-Fiorentina preview

By: Dumitru | April 18th, 2009

Today i watched Genoa collapsing against Lazio(thanks guys!!), wich means that a win against Udinese will catapult us into 4th place. This is the second time, in consecutive weeks, when Lazio is doing, indirectly, favours to us, after ending Roma’s realistic hopes of playing in Champs League next season.

Udinese is coming after a demoralising exit from Uefa cup at the hands Werder Bremen, the killers of italian teams in Europe. Curiously, Werder didn’t lose a match to italian opposition, this season, knocking Milan and Udinese from Uefa cup, and forcing Inter to finish second in their CL group. Combined with our losses to Bayern, this may result in the loss of a CL spot by Serie A to Bundesliga, wich will seriously damage the prestige and attractivity of the italian championship around the world.

Udinese will be tired, and they really have nothing to play for. Their season is over, and they are virtually safe from relegation. They have a good record against us, beating us twice last season, and, if you remember, they ended our 15 match undefeated streak last season, with Qualiarella and Di Natale on the scoresheet, if i’m not mistaken, chasing us thereafter, along with Sampdoria and Milan, in the race for the 4th place all season long. This season, they have been average so far, despite starting brightly, failing to cement themselves in the italian elite. We beat them, soundly, 4-2 at home, in the current campaign, with Adrian Mutu, Montolivo(twice) and Gila on the scoresheet for us.

Injured or suspended:

Udinese: Di Natale, Coda,Tissone,Ferronetti and, possibly, Alexis Sanchez are all injured.

Fiorentina: Adrian Mutu, Mario Alberto Santana and, probably, Per Kroldrup will fill the injury list for us, while Melo and Ricardo Montolivo are suspended.

Probable lineups:

Udinese (4-3-3): Handanovic; Zapata, Domizzi, Felipe, Lukovic; Inler, D’Agostino, Asamoah; Pepe, Quagliarella, Floro Flores.

Fiorentina : San Cesare will have to choose between 2 tactical formations. The last two games, he used a 4-4-2 formation. He could also opt for a 4-3-3 construction. There is also the question of who will play as starters. In a 4-4-2 formation, the lineup might look like this: Frey; Pasqual, Gamberini, Dainelli, Comotto; Vargas/Kuzmanovic, Donadel, Kuzmanovic/Almiron, Semioli; Jovetic, Gilardino. In case San Cesare opts for a 4-3-3, it will look like this:Frey; Pasqual, Gamberini, Dainelli, Comotto; Vargas, Donadel, Kuzmanovic; Semioli, Jovetic, Gilardino.There is also a weak possibility that we will employ a 4-3-1-2 formation with either Jorgensen or Semioli behind strikers.

FORM GUIDE:

Udinese (D D L L W) Fiorentina (L L W W W)

MATCH PREDICTION:

GOD/the Universe/karma/Whoever gave us the opportunity to reclaim the 4th spot, so, let’s not refuse this gift. I predict a 2-0 or 2-1 victory for us, based on our superior form and motivation, with Gila and Jo-Jo scoring for us, and, maybe, Quagliarella for Udinese.

FORZA VIOLA!