Coach Roberto De Zerbi wants to see more “maturity” as Sassuolo visit Fiorentina and attempt to overtake the Viola in the Serie A table.
It kicks off on Monday at 20.00 UK time (19.00 GMT), click here for a match preview.
Only two points separate the two sides going into this round and a victory at the Stadio Franchi would allow the Neroverdi to leapfrog in front as well as secure mathematical safety from the threat of relegation.
Coach Roberto De Zerbi wants to see more “maturity” as Sassuolo visit Fiorentina and attempt to overtake the Viola in the Serie A table.
It kicks off on Monday at 20.00 UK time (19.00 GMT), click here for a match preview.
Only two points separate the two sides going into this round and a victory at the Stadio Franchi would allow the Neroverdi to leapfrog in front as well as secure mathematical safety from the threat of relegation.
Fiorentina are feeling the strain, as they were dumped out of the Coppa Italia semi-finals by Atalanta on Thursday.
“This game is important to us as we are still not mathematically safe,” said De Zerbi in his Press conference.
“We face a team with strong players in a hostile ground and I’m sure that they will want to bounce back after being knocked out of the Coppa Italia.
“They are an organised team that plays good football, they did it under Stefano Pioli and do it now under Vincenzo Montella. They are two Coaches I respect.”
The meeting between these sides earlier in the season ended 3-3 after the Viola fought back from two goals down and De Zerbi wants a similar approach.
“I would like to see the same performance we put in in the opening 70 minutes of that match. We switched off after that and they got back into the game.
“Although their last goal came from our mistake and we paid a costly price as we threw away the three points, which would be important to us now for our standing in the table.”
The tactician spoke of his side’s struggles this season and wanted his players to put the effort in over the next few games.
“Maturity is key to avoiding relegation, we have to be mature as we showed in our games with Parma, Chievo, Lazio, and Udinese. If we do that then we will reach safety quicker than we would without maturity.
“We are in this situation because sometimes our performances on the field deserved more points than we actually won, but in the end, the results on the pitch almost always tell the truth.”
Montella played Federico Chiesa and Luis Muriel closer together up front in their game with Atalanta midweek and De Zerbi shared his thoughts on the change of formation.
“Chiesa would be dangerous even if he was a full-back, he reminds a lot of his father in that more central role. Fiorentina are fearsome, they are dangerous with Chiesa and Giovani Simeone, or with Simeone and Muriel.
“They are one of the youngest sides in the league as well as us and we also share a similar amount of drawn games this season. If the two youngest teams in the division keep drawing, it could be down to the idea that we need to mature more.”
De Zerbi finished up by dismissing the rumours of him joining Lazio in the summer.
“We have to focus on serious things, this isn’t a serious thing, at least for now. I have to focus on keeping my team up first.”