Serie A Preview: Fiorentina desperate for goals

26 October 2012 02:50

Head coach Vincenzo Montella needs to improve Fiorentina's attacking play to give them a chance against third-placed Lazio on Sunday.

Fiorentina are sixth in Serie A but have only scored nine goals this season. Only seven of the 20 other clubs have scored less than Fiorentina, who have only one victory from their past five games, hitting the back of the net four times in that period.

Lazio have scored 15 goals this season and eight in their past three games, meaning Montella will need to match the visitors' firepower, although new Fiorentina striker Mounir El Hamdaoui, who has not scored since joining from Ajax, has claimed that Italian football does not suit goal-scorers.

"I feel fine although I know that people expect me to score goals," El Hamdaoui told Italian radio station Radio Blu.

"Italian football does tend to be defensive.

"This is a problem for strikers but here at Fiorentina we continue to try to play football the right way."

Stevan Jovetic is Fiorentina's only player to have scored more than one goal with five, while for Lazio Miroslav Klose has struck six times and Hernanes has hit the back of net on five occasions.

Fiorentina will move within three points of Lazio if they win, with the visitors entering the game on the back of a 1-1 Europa League draw with Panathinaikos.

In other games on Sunday, league-leaders Juventus will travel to Catania after their Champions League draw away to Denmark's FC Nordsjaelland, while second-placed Napoli will host Chievo Verona fresh from a disappointing 3-1 loss to Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk in the Europa League.

Juventus extended their unbeaten run in the Serie A to 47 matches last week when they knocked off Napoli 2-0 in the top-of-the-table clash.

Jose Caceres and Paul Pogba scored the goals for the Turin-based club as they moved three points clear of second-placed Napoli and Juventus should be too strong for Catania, who have the equal-second worst defence in Serie A this season.

Napoli should bounce back from two defeats in a row against 17th-placed Chievo, who have the equal worst defensive record.

Bologna will welcome fourth-placed Inter Milan to the Stadio Renato Dall'Ara, while Sampdoria take on Cagliari, Torino host Parma, Pescara will face Atalanta and Roma are up against Udinese.

In Saturday's matches, struggling AC Milan will host Genoa in what will be Luigi Del Neri's first game as head coach of the visitors, while Palermo will be on the road against Siena.