Fiorentina vs Chievo preview - Corini has survival target

Posted Sunday, March 03, 2013 by PA

Chievo head coach Eugenio Corini has a clear vision of what the club must do between now and the end of the season to retain their Serie A status.

The team from Verona are in danger of being sucked into a relegation battle after emerging empty-handed from a 2-0 defeat at Sampdoria, a third loss in four games that leaves the club eight points above the bottom three.

Chievo won 2-1 at Fiorentina last season, though, leading Corini to believe his team can get another invaluable result from Tuscany.

He told newspaper La Repubblica: "We know what we have to do in the league. I like the players' mentality and we will try to bring home results in any which way we can.

"We should need between 38 and 42 points to book survival but it's hard to say what the exact figure will be.

"We need to get back to winning ways in the next match because there are three good teams behind us who are in good form, but the season is still long."

Midfielder Perparim Hetemaj serves a one-match ban with defender Gennaro Sardo nursing an injury for the trip to Florence.

Fiorentina suffered a serious blow to their own ambitions on Tuesday when Bologna's Lazaros Christodoulopoulos struck five minutes from time to inflict a 2-1 defeat on the Champions League hopefuls.

Recent signing Mohamed Sissoko featured as a late substitute at the Renato Dall'Ara and the Malian is still reeling from a result that denied Fiorentina the chance to take fourth place.

He told the Corriere dello Sport newspaper: "I took absolutely no pleasure from the fact that we lost the game in that way, just five minutes from the end, having dominated throughout.

"We need to train harder over the next few days to get ourselves ready for Chievo on Sunday and it will be the kind of test that we need to pass in order to redeem ourselves."

Fiorentina's injury crisis appears to be worsening too, with defender Facundo Roncaglia joining Matias Fernandez, Michele Camporese and Ahmed Hegazy on the sidelines, but striker Giuseppe Rossi has started light training. Colombian midfielder Juan Cuadrado serves a one-match ban.