Fiorentina defender Marco Alonso (R) competes for the ball against Chievo's Fabrizio Cacciatore. (Photo : Getty Images)
Reeling contenders ACF Fiorentina (17-10-9, 60 points) will try to snap their three-game winless skid against bottom three team US Citta di Palermo (9-19-8, 35 points), who are slowly rising from relegation, in a 2015-2016 Serie A game to be held at the Stadio Artemio Franchi on May 8th, Sunday.
Fiorentina dropped to the fifth spot of the league table after being winless in five of their last six matches.
With their current struggles, Viola went from competing for a UEFA Champions League slot with Roma and Inter Milan into holding on to the last Europa League qualifying berth with only two games left in their current campaign as their closest rival, Sassuolo, is only five points below them in the overall standings.
Paulo Sousa's boys settled for a goalless tie with ninth-placed team Chievo at the Stadio Marc'Antonio Bentegodi last Saturday to snap a two-game losing slide, as reported by Forza Italian Football.
It was another lackluster performance by the Lilies against a fellow struggling team on the road as they failed to score a single goal in the whole match. This marks the team's second shutout game in their last five outings.
Meanwhile, Palermo is slowly rising from the relegation ashes after stringing three consecutive unbeaten games.
The Rosanero pulled off an impressive 2-0 trouncing of lowly squad Sampdoria at their home ground of Stadio Renzo Barbera last Sunday to build a two-game winning run, as per ESPN.
Italian striker Franco Vazquez scored the opening goal at the 19th minute of the match for head coach Davide Ballardini's side to give them the early upperhand.
An own goal from La Samp's Serbian midfielder Nenad Krsticic doubled the hosts' lead with five minutes remaining in the clock to secure the victory and three points for the bottom three squad.
Palermo is currently tied on points with Carpi but the latter has a superior goal difference of -19 to the Aquile's -28, which is why I Biancorossi is one rank higher in the safety zone.
The predicted result is a tough 1-0 win for Fiorentina.
Fiorentina starting lineup (3-5-1-1 formation): Tatarusanu; Tomovic, Gonzalo, Astori; Tello, Fernandez, Badelj, Valero, Alonso; Zarate; Kalinic
Palermo starting lineup (3-4-1-2 formation): Sorrentino; Cionek, Vitiello, Andjelkovic; Rispoli, Hiljemark, Maresca, Morganella; Vazquez, Trajkovski; Gilardino
