Fiorentina found it tougher than expected and were wasteful, but still beat Salernitana 2-1 for a fifth straight victory in all competitions.
The Viola were finally finding some consistency with four straight wins in all competition, though Nico Gonzalez, Pierluigi Gollini, Riccardo Sottil and Gaetano Castrovilli were injured. Salernitana were unbeaten in three, but Norbert Gyomber didn’t make the trip.
Christian Kouame forced a save in the opening minutes and Luigi Sepe intercepted a pass for Jonathan Ikone, but Fiorentina broke through when Giacomo Bonaventura completed a give and go with Ikone down the right, meeting the pull-back from the by-line.
It really should’ve been 2-0, but Ikone was clear on goal and decided to pull back for Christian Kouame instead, allowing Luigi Sepe to make a fantastic reaction save.
Sepe smothered at the feet of Arthur Cabral and Cristiano Biraghi blasted just wide from distance, then after the break Rolando Mandragora couldn’t quite finish the tap-in and Sofyan Amrabat fired over the bar.
Instead, Salernitana equalised with their first genuine chance of the game. Boulaye Dia came off the bench, went on the counter and exchanged passes with Krzysztof Piatek on the edge of the area to beat Pietro Terracciano from 14 yards.
Fiorentina kept creating chances without converting, including a Riccardo Saponara curler off target and Ikone shot charged down, until Luka Jovic came off the bench and found the net. It was initially flagged offside, but Ivan Radovanovic was keeping him on from the Saponara through ball.
Aleksa Terzic saw his ball flash across the face of goal just beyond two Viola teammates.
Fiorentina 2-1 Salernitana
Bonaventura 15 (F), Dia 55 (S), Jovic 82 (F)