Fiorentina vs Lecce prediction: ITALY: Serie A betting tips on match 2023-03-18 14:00.
Fiorentina enter the last Serie A (SA) round before the international break after a 4-1 win in the UEFA Europa Conference League over Sivasspor on Thursday, making it six straight wins in all competitions as they secured progression to quarter-finals. They’ve also won three straight league games and moved to within a point of the top-half ahead of this round, a gap they’ll be looking to plug in the remainder of this campaign.
If Vincenzo Italiano’s men keep their current form going, challenging for the European places can’t be ruled out, with the Viola trailing the top-seven by just four points ahead of the weekend. However, a better start would be welcomed here as the hosts are yet to lead a home game at half-time since January 12, failing to score before the break in five of the seven matches in that sequence.
Unlike their hosts, Lecce have now suffered three consecutive defeats without finding the net after they lost to Torino 2-0 last time out. In spite of that defeat, a comfortable eight-point gap to the bottom three should keep the mood high in their camp, although Marco Baroni’s men will be eager to avoid their first run of four SA defeats ’to-nil’ since 2019.
That being said, Lecce have won three of their last four SA trips to Stadio Artemio Franchi (D1), despite scoring just once in three of those matches. Any goalmouth action is unlikely to arrive in the latter stages though, as Lecce's matches have seen the fewest goals in the last 30 minutes of play in SA this season (11).
Players to watch: Fiorentina will be hoping for Luka Jović to score as they’ve won eight of his nine goalscoring matches this season (L1). Alexis Blin remains the last Lecce’s player to score as he acted decisively in their 2-1 away win against Atalanta.
Hot stat: Lecce have opened the scoring and netted exactly twice in all four of their away league wins this term.