Following European wins in midweek, Serie A high-flyers Fiorentina and Inter Milan will meet at Stadio Artemio Franchi on Sunday evening.
After seven league wins on the spin, the Viola are level on points with Italy's reigning champions - who are unbeaten since September - as an enthralling Scudetto race takes shape.
Match preview
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Fiorentina have been a team transformed over the past couple of months, racking up a long series of successes both at home and abroad, taking them into Serie A's top four.
Before the November international break, Raffaele Palladino's side had won six successive league games, and they returned to action with a 2-0 victory in Como last weekend, as top scorer Moise Kean netted the crucial second goal at Stadio Sinigaglia.
Now, a club record of eight straight top-flight wins - which was set way back in 1960 - is within their sights, following another three-point haul in the Conference League.
On Thursday night, Palladino's much-changed team scraped past Pafos at Stadio Franchi, with a 3-2 win putting them in one of eight automatic qualifying places for the last 16.
Having been guilty of wasting chances over the past few years, the Tuscan club are now decisive in attack, and in addition to Kean's supreme form, no team have scored more goals via set-pieces in Europe's top five leagues this season.
However, they must now face perhaps their toughest test yet: Fiorentina have lost six of their last eight matches against Inter in Serie A, recording just one win since the 2017-18 season.
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Indeed, Inter have come out on top in all of their last four visits to Florence - and by an aggregate score of 10-4; throughout Serie A history, no club has ever achieved five away wins in a row against Fiorentina.
The Milan giants will kick off Sunday's game in equally good shape to their hosts, if not better, as they are in the mix to successfully defend the Scudetto and remain unbeaten in this season's Champions League.
Sitting second in the league-phase table with four wins from five so far - all without conceding a single goal - Inter edged out RB Leipzig on Tuesday evening.
Keeping five consecutive clean sheets has taken the Nerazzurri close to sealing an automatic place in the last 16, and they produced another shutout last weekend, when scoring five goals in the first half of a Serie A away match for just the second time to date.
After Marcus Thuram bagged a brace in their ruthless 5-0 thrashing of Hellas Verona, Simone Inzaghi's side have scored 18 times before the break in Serie A this season, so Fiorentina certainly cannot afford to start slowly.
Team News
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Fiorentina's first XI will be rotated again, as Raffaele Palladino generally picks an almost entirely different team in the Conference League, so Moise Kean, Robin Gosens and David de Gea are among several men set to return.
Milan-owned midfielder Yacine Adli should recover from a minor injury that ruled him out on Thursday, and Icelandic striker Albert Gudmundsson may be back in action following several weeks on the sidelines, but Amir Richardson is still unavailable.
While Kean needs only one more goal to hit double figures in a league campaign for the just second time - after the 13 he scored for Paris Saint-Germain in 2020-21 - Inter's Marcus Thuram has also been in stellar form this season.
The French forward has already scored multiple goals on four occasions, and he could supplant Mehdi Taremi to reunite with Lautaro Martinez this weekend; the latter has found the net seven times in his last five appearances against Fiorentina.
Inter's absence list is as short as their hosts': only Benjamin Pavard, Francesco Acerbi and Carlos Augusto are ruled out, while Italy midfielder Davide Frattesi has been passed fit.
Fiorentina possible starting lineup:
De Gea; Dodo, Comuzzo, Ranieri, Gosens; Adli, Cataldi, Bove; Colpani, Beltran; Kean
Inter Milan possible starting lineup:
Sommer; Bisseck, De Vrij, Bastoni; Dumfries, Barella, Calhanoglu, Mkhitaryan, Dimarco; Thuram, Martinez
We say: Fiorentina 0-2 Inter Milan
With just one loss in 18 games this season - against city rivals Milan in September - Inter are clearly capable of halting Fiorentina's momentum.
The Viola will see their unlikely title hopes dented, as the vastly experienced Nerazzurri can be clinical when it really matters.
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.
Jonathan O'Shea
