Serie A Preview: Fiorentina, Lazio meet in key clash

A confident Fiorentina face another rival chasing European places in Lazio in the Serie A, while Napoli visit Inter.

Vincenzo Montella’s Fiorentina easily beat Inter last time out in the league and host Lazio at the Stadio Artemio Franchi on Sunday.

Losing just one of their opening six league games has been a good effort by injury-hit Fiorentina.

The absences of strikers Mario Gomez and Giuseppe Rossi have been felt, with Montella’s side scoring just five league goals.

But defender Marcos Alonso said the 3-0 victory over Inter had been a huge boost to his side, who sit ninth.

“I don’t know how far we can go, as we have important players who are injured, but the team is made of more than just two elements and we proved that,” the Spaniard told Radio Blu.

“Beating Inter gave us confidence.”

Back-to-back wins in the league by eighth-placed Lazio have helped ease the pressure on coach Stefano Pioli.

Another coach under pressure, Walter Mazzarri, needs his Inter team to perform at home to Napoli on Sunday.

Mazzarri’s side have just two wins in six and sit 10th, quickly slipping away from the top teams.

Rafael Benitez had come under-fire earlier in the campaign, but his Napoli have responded with back-to-back league victories.

Roma will be looking to bounce back from their first league loss of the season when they host struggling Chievo.

High-flying Juventus, who inflicted Roma’s loss, travel to bottom side Sassuolo confident of making it seven from seven.

Unbeaten Sampdoria could continue their flying start to the season with a win at Cagliari and Parma, who sit in the relegation places, need a victory when they visit fellow battlers Atalanta on Sunday.

Udinese will be hoping their good start to the campaign continues on Sunday, when they visit Torino.

Fifth-placed Milan travel to Hellas Verona and Palermo are searching for their first win of the season when they host Cesena.

Genoa and Empoli complete matchday seven on Monday.