Serie A: Can Lazio Boss Their Way Past Fiorentina?

Fiorentina vs Lazio

Things are starting to heat up in the midfield of the Serie A standings. Six top-flight outfits currently separate themselves by just five points, and every point they can garner from this point on could be detrimental to their final rankings by the end of the season.

Lazio and Fiorentina are two of the clubs caught in a close competition for midfield spots. Although, at this point in the season, their chances of winning the Serie A championship have already slimmed down. But luckily for them, both outfits may still be able to make it into the European race the following term.

Talking Points

Lazio might have their swagger back

The Eagles are finding it hard to find consistent Serie A 2024 results, but they could definitely start turning things around, especially after their 1-0 first-leg win over Bayern in the Champions League Round of 16.

Their current season has been a far cry from what they were able to produce in the 2022–23 campaign, and their title hopes for this season might already be down the drain. But if they string up a tail-end run to finish the season, Lazio could feature in European football again next season.

Just five points behind Europa League hopefuls Atalanta, the Eagles are well within striking distance of qualifying for European football next term. Already with six points in their last three top-flight matches, they have a great opportunity to add to their tally when they visit Fiorentina at Stadio Artemio Franchi.

The glaring struggles of their final third to find the back of the net have been costing them this season, but they’re starting to ramp up in the past few weeks, scoring eight goals in their last five matches across all competitions.

Immobile stands as their top goal scorer this season with six goals, while Luis Alberto and Felipe Anderson follow suit with three goals apiece.

If Ciro Immobile and the rest of Lazio’s forwards could continue to ramp up their production moving forward, Lazio could find themselves in the upper echelon of Serie A sooner than later.

Fiorentina are simmering down

La viola just won one top-flight match since the new year, and their defence is the culprit for their shortcomings.

In all of their matches in Serie A since January, Fiorentina’s first third failed to tally a clean sheet. With 29 allowed goals thus far, Fiorentina have the third most goals allowed in the top 10 teams in the Serie A table, trailed by Roma with 30 and Milan with 31.

The difference between these three clubs is that Roma and Milan have a more potent offence than La viola, who boast Nicolás González, who has just seven goals this season as their top scorer, while Milan have Oliver Giroud and Roma have Romelu Lukaku and Paulo Dybala.

With just four accumulated points in their last five top-flight matches, Fiorentina’s match with Lazio comes with bigger stakes than we thought. Fiorentina are now just two points clear of Napoli, Torino, and Monza, and if Vincenzo Italiano can’t garner much-needed points against Lazio, then they could possibly fall to the lower half of the Serie A table after this week.

So SBOTOP football fans should expect a fiery Fiorentina outfit when they host the Eagles this week.

History

To say that these teams are well acquainted would be an understatement, as they’ve faced each other 43 times since 2005.

In those matches, Lazio have bossed Fiorentina, winning 25 head-to-heads, while Fiorentina have only 11 wins and seven draws.

During their most recent matchup, Lazio successfully defended their home field with a 1-0 victory against a visiting Fiorentina. Ciro Immobile scored the only goal of the match via a penalty in the second half.

La viola have only garnered one win against Lazio in their last 10 meetings, so punters should be mindful of this statistic when they look at the main lines for their upcoming bout. 

Betting Tip 

Both Fiorentina and Lazio boast 1.6 goals per match in their last five head-to-heads, which is why the middle line for their total goals is 2.25, but because both outfits have been struggling offencively in the past few weeks, goals under 2.25 at 1.88 could be the sweet spot in terms of their possible goal production.

Meanwhile, in their main lines, the Serie A 2024 betting odds have Lazio as the underdogs at 3.05, which poses immense value, which is why that is my betting tip for this top-flight bout. Despite their recent struggles, Fiorentina are the slight favourites with 2.29 and a draw price of 2.97.

Although neither team has been playing at its best lately, Lazio is beginning to perform better in both the Serie A and the Champions League, so bettors shouldn’t ignore them as the underdogs at 3.05 against a struggling Fiorentina.

 

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