It’s the Tuscan Derby this afternoon with Fiorentina targeting European places and Empoli eager to cause another upset.
It kicks off at the Stadio Artemio Franchi at 14.00 GMT, click here for a match preview.
The Viola have seemingly found their feet after a difficult start to the campaign, affected by injuries to Giuseppe Rossi, Khouma Babacar and Federico Bernardeschi.
It’s the Tuscan Derby this afternoon with Fiorentina targeting European places and Empoli eager to cause another upset.
It kicks off at the Stadio Artemio Franchi at 14.00 GMT, click here for a match preview.
The Viola have seemingly found their feet after a difficult start to the campaign, affected by injuries to Giuseppe Rossi, Khouma Babacar and Federico Bernardeschi.
They have notched up three wins and a draw in the last four rounds, able to focus all their attention on Serie A now during the Europa League break.
Mario Gomez has scored only one goal in the last nine months and is desperate to end 2014 with a morale-boosting strike to his name.
He is supported by Colombian Juan Guillermo Cuadrado and Mati Fernandez.
Empoli are newly-promoted from Serie B, but not to be sniffed at, as they are unbeaten in six and have taken points off the lines of Napoli and Milan this season.
Matias Vecino – who is on from Fiorentina – is suspended and therefore cannot face his parent club today.
Simone Verdi pulls the strings in a trequartista role behind Francesco Tavano and Massimo Maccarone.
Empoli have conquered their rivals in Florence only once in Serie A, 2-1 back in 1997.
There had actually been concerns around this fixture, as the Florence area was struck by a series of small earthquakes over the last few days.
Fiorentina: Neto; Savic, Gonzalo Rodriguez, Basanta; Cuadrado, Mati Fernandez, Pizarro, Borja Valero, Vargas; Joaquin, Gomez
Fiorentina bench: Tatarusanu, Lezzerini, Richards, Badelj, Marin, Aquilani, Kurtic, Alonso, Tomovic, Ilicic, El Hamdaoui
Empoli: Sepe; Hysaj, Rugani, Tonelli, Mario Rui; Croce, Valdifiori, Signorelli, Verdi; Tavano, Maccarone
Empoli bench: Pugliesi, Bassi, Agrifogli, Moro, Mchelidze, Laxalt, Barba, Pucciarelli, Bianchetti, Zielinski, Aguirre