If Juventus have had little time to linger on the midweek victory over Spezia, the same is also true for Saturday's opponents Fiorentina, who need to regroup after falling to their first defeat of the season, at Udinese.
Juve's most recent visit to the Artemio Franchi was the final game of the season. A 2-0 home victory ensured European football for the Florentines for the first time since 2016/17 and a 2-1 aggregate success over FC Twente in the Conference League booked the Viola's place in the group stages of the tournament now in its second season. The positive form continued as Vincenzo Italiano's team put together their longest unbeaten sequence since 2009-10 with five games without loss.
However, the extra demands on the team have already begun to take their toll, with scorers on that late May night, Alfred Duncan and Nico Gonzalez, two of the players that missed out on the loss in Udine because of injury.
In fact, after a positive opening to the campaign at home and abroad with five goals in the first two matches, Fiorentina have failed to score in their last four outings in all competitions, the first time this has occurred since the club was acquired by Rocco Commisso in 2019.
TEAM FOCUS
- The win in May was Fiorentina's first Serie A success over Juventus at the Franchi since January 15th 2017.
- Fiorentina collected 41 points at the Franchi last season, exceeding the 40-point mark at home in a single Serie A season for the first time since 2012/13, and already have four points from a possible six this campaign.
- The Viola have already drawn two matches in the opening four games, as many as they recorded over the first 23 games last season.
- Fiorentina last went four games without scoring 39 months ago, in May 2019.
PLAYER FOCUS
- Marquee signing from Real Madrid, Luka Jović netted on his Viola debut against Cremonese but has failed to add to his tally in the following five matches.
- With 372 minutes to his name, Lucas Martinez Quarta is the Fiorentina player that has accumulated most playing time this season.
- Rolando Mandragora, on his Fiorentina debut since signing from Juventus during the summer, scored the Viola's Matchday 1 winner against Cremonese in the 95th minute.