MILAN – There's a big match on the agenda tonight as Inter visit Fiorentina at the Stadio Franchi in Week 25 of Serie A with third place at stake.
Ahead of the game, we've put together this collection of facts and figures courtesy of Opta.
HEAD TO HEAD
This is the 156th league meeting between these two sides. Inter have won 63 games so far, Fiorentina 42 and there have been 50 draws.
Inter are the team Fiorentina have scored most goals against in Serie A (195).
The Viola have emerged victorious from their last three league encounters with the Nerazzurri. They haven't beaten Inter four times in a row since 1940-42.
The Tuscan outfit have scored in each of their last seven Serie A matches against Inter, averaging 2.1 goals per game.
PAST MEETINGS IN FLORENCE
Fiorentina have triumphed 27 times in previous league fixtures at home while Inter have recorded 18 away victories.
Inter are the team to have drawn most games away against Fiorentina in Serie A (32).
FORM BOOK
Paulo Sousa's men are unbeaten in four, recording two wins at home and two draws away. Fiorentina have scored in each of their last 16 league matches at the Stadio Franchi – 35 goals in total for an average of 2.2 goals per game. Only Napoli (32) have obtained more points on home soil than the Viola (28) this term.
Roberto Mancini's team have let in six goals in their last three matches, having conceded seven in their previous 12 outings. The Nerazzurri have picked up just two points from their last three away trips.
GENERAL STATS
Fiorentina have scored 12 more goals than Inter this season despite having just six more shots than the Nerazzurri (347 versus 341). The Viola have the third highest shots-to-goals ratio in Serie A (16.5%). Only Juventus have allowed opponents fewer efforts on goal than Fiorentina (212) in 2015/16. Sousa's side currently have the highest average percentage of ball possession in Serie A (62.6%).
Since the mid-season point, the Viola are averaging 541 passes every game, while in the first half of the season they hit 617. Only Napoli have scored more goals from outside the area than Fiorentina with six, but on the other hand no team has conceded fewer strikes from outside the box than Inter with one. Fiorentina have the most lethal attack in Serie A when limited to the first halves of matches, having scored 23 goals.
Nine of the 20 goals Inter have conceded in the league have come from set pieces, working out to 45%. Only AC Milan with 46% have a worse percentage.
With his goal against Bologna, Federico Bernardeschi became Fiorentina's 14th goalscorer of the season. Only Roma with 17 have more.
Paulo Sousa's men are the only side in Serie A not to have dropped points at home after taking the lead in matches: nine wins out of nine.
However, Fiorentina have salvaged the fewest points from losing positions: just one.
The Viola have been awarded the most penalties this season (seven) and converted them all. Along with Empoli, they are one of two teams yet to give away a penalty so far.
PLAYER FOCUS
Manuel Pasqual is on the cusp of his 300th match in Serie A.
Adem Ljajic and Stevan Jovetic are two notable former Fiorentina players going into this match. The Serbian scored 15 goals in 78 Serie A appearances wearing the Viola shirt, while the Montenegrin notched 35 in 116 games. Ljajic already scored against his former employers in January last year for Roma.
Jovetic has attempted six shots in his last seven outings (hitting the target twice), which equals the same number of attempts he managed in the opening game of the season against Atalanta.
Josip Ilicic scored his maiden goal in Serie A in Palermo 1-2 Inter back in September 2010. The Slovenian hasn't found the net for two matches but hasn't gone three games without scoring in the league since October.
In the reverse fixture earlier this season, Nikola Kalinic bagged his first and so far only hat-trick in the top flight. The Viola striker has scored once in the last 11 games, despite hitting nine in the opening 12 fixtures.
Khouma Babacar hasn't found the net for seven games in Serie A – his longest dry-spell since returning to Florence in 2014.
Nenad Tomovic hasn't scored in the league since October 2014 during Fiorentina's 3-0 victory over Inter.
Panagiotis Kone scored against Inter home and away in 2013/14 while playing for Bologna.
Mauro Icardi has hit double figures for the third time in four seasons playing in the Italian top flight. At the same point last season he had only scored one more goal. Six of Icardi's ten goals have come away from home: only Gonzalo Higuain has had more success on the road in 2015/16. Level with Luca Toni, Icardi has attempted the most headers (14) without finding the net.
Eder is yet to open his Nerazzurri goal-scoring account after three games played. He hasn't gone four Serie A games without scoring since last April. Eder has bagged two goals in nine games against Fiorentina in the top flight, playing for Brescia and Sampdoria. Among players with at least seven strikes in 2015/16, Carlos Bacca leads the way with a goalscoring percentage of 33% followed by Ilicic (28.6%), Eder (27.3%) and Icardi (27%).
In his last outing against Hellas Verona, Ivan Perisic managed to get on the scoresheet and supply an assist in the same game for the first time in Serie A.
Borja Valero has completed the third-most passes – after Jorginho and Marek Hamsik – in the opposition's half out of all players in Serie A this season with 923. The Spaniard has also set up the most chances for team-mates (53) after Hamsik and Paulo Dybala.
Mauro Zarate has a short Nerazzurri history dating back to 2011/12, scoring two goals in 22 appearances in the top division.
COACHES
Paulo Sousa and Roberto Mancini have crossed paths only once before in Serie A, in the reverse fixture earlier this season won 4-1 by the Viola.
Mancini made his managerial debut in the Viola dugout, replacing Fatih Terim he led Fiorentina from March 2001 to January 2002 and won the Coppa Italia.
It's the 11th time Mancini has come across the Viola in Serie A, picking up six wins, a draw and three losses so far.
REFEREE AND DISCIPLINE
Paolo Silvio Mazzoleni has taken charge of 148 games in Serie A and is into his 11th season in the top flight.
Mazzoleni has officiated ten games this season and has pulled out the red card on four occasions, one of which was for Inter's Felipe Melo in the game against Lazio on 20 December 2015.
Inter have alternated between victories and defeats in the last four matches with Mazzoleni in the middle: the last was the loss against Lazio in December. Fiorentina have also switched between results with this ref, winning 2-0 against Torino most recently.
After Napoli, Inter have committed the fewest fouls in Serie A this season with 316.
The Viola have been caught offside just 44 times so far, the least of any other team.
SUSPENDED
Fiorentina: Mati Fernández (one game).
Inter: Felipe Melo (one game).
AT RISK OF SUSPENSION:
Fiorentina: Alonso, Badelj, Borja Valero.
Inter: Kondogbia, Medel, Telles.
