FIORENTINA v AC MILAN: OPPONENT REVIEW

A trip to Tuscany awaits Stefano Pioli’s AC Milan in the latest round of Serie A fixtures, with the Rossoneri set to take on Fiorentina at 20:45 CET on Saturday. The two teams will take to the pitch aiming to build on their results last time out: the Diavolo beat Atalanta 2-0 at San Siro, while Italiano’s side ran out 3-0 winners away to Verona. While, however, the current Italian Champions are looking for their fourth consecutive league victory after getting the better of Torino, Monza and La Dea, the Viola haven’t achieved two successive wins since November (they went on to win three on the spin). Furthermore, Fiorentina last won twice in a row on the road without conceding back in January 2020 (v SPAL and Napoli).

When it comes to goals conceded, there is one particular stat that bodes well for the Rossoneri: Fiorentina haven’t kept a clean sheet in any of their last eight Serie A matches at the Franchi. The last time they did worse than this was when they failed to record a shutout for nine successive home games in 2005. In general, the Viola have struggled on home turf, including at the start of this year (one win, two draws and two defeats in 2023). They’ll be looking to win tomorrow’s match to avoid slipping towards the bottom of the table, while AC Milan are aiming to solidify their position in the upper echelons.

NOT AFRAID TO SHOOT
With 387 to their name so far, Fiorentina sit second in terms of number of shots taken, with only Napoli (400) having had more attempts across the first 24 matchdays in Serie A. Following the Viola in this particular ranking are Inter (382) and AC Milan (351). The Tuscans aren’t afraid to take aim from distance: only Udinese (142) have shot more than Italiano’s side from outside the box (137).

It's something that the Rossoneri’s defence will certainly have to be aware of as they face an attack that has had the fourth-most shots on target in 2022/23 (behind only AC Milan, Inter and Napoli). At the other end, AC Milan’s strikers will have to be accurate with their finishing because Fiorentina have allowed the fewest efforts on their goal in the entire league (229). It must be pointed out, however, that the Viola have the worst shots-to-goals-conceded ratio in the division, shipping once every 7.6 attempts.

CABRAL IN GREAT FORM, BARÁK AND BIRAGHI ALSO DANGEROUS
The first name that AC Milan’s defenders need to be aware of ahead of Saturday’s match is Arthur Cabral. The Brazilian is enjoying a great run of form: out of all the strikers who ply their trade in Serie A, only Victor Osimhen has scored more goals (six) than the Viola striker (five) across all competitions since the start of February. After a difficult 2022, the 24-year-old has made a decisive contribution across Serie A and the Conference League since the turn of the year.

Although for different reasons, Antonín Barák also undoubtedly poses a threat to the Rossoneri backline. The Czech midfielder, who is about to celebrate his 150th appearance in Italy’s top division, has found the net in three of his last five Serie A matches against AC Milan. After bagging against Verona last time out, the 28-year-old could score in two consecutive top-flight matches for the first time since February 2022, a fact that will provide him with further motivation going into tomorrow’s clash. Another name to note is Cristiano Biraghi. In addition to being the Viola player who has created the most chances for his teammates this Serie A season (58), his goal against Hellas means that he’s now the only defender to have scored and provided an assist on at least one occasion in each of the past seven top-flight campaigns.

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