Happy homecoming for Jose

New faces in both dugouts

Jose Mourinho’s successes in Italy have meant that his long-awaited return to the Serie A is met with much excitement from Roma fans. His reputation precedes him, and with a very impressive midweek win away at Trabzonspor in the UEFA Conference League qualifiers already under his belt, the anticipation for his return to league football has hit fever pitch. With the stage of the Stadio Olimpico set for this new Serie A season, visitors Fiorentina might not have envisaged a possible trickier start to the new season. Vincenzo Italiano takes charge of his first Serie A game with La Viola, so the stakes are high in both dugouts to get off to a fast start.

Vlahovic or bust for Viola

The hosts are favourites to take all three points on Sunday, but they’re at a decent value. Roma will be looking to build on a 7^th place finish last season, and under Mourinho you can imagine they’ll kick on where others falter. Their sights should be set on comfortably qualifying for the Europa League, but with Mourinho’s ambitious mentality, I wouldn’t put it past the Giallorossi to be back in the Champions League spots. This ambition is why it’s so critical that they get off to a good start on their home turf, against a Fiorentina side that struggled massively for large parts of last season. If it hadn’t been for striker Dusan Vlahovic’s staggering 21 goals last season, they would’ve most certainly been much closer to the droop than their 13^th placed finish saw them. With Vlahovic seemingly on the cusp of leaving Florence every five minutes this transfer window, life without him could give Italiano a real battle to keep La Viola in the topflight next season. Roma’s imperious home form saw them win 13 of their 19 home matches last season, and the recent meetings between these two sides makes for grim reading for the visiotrs. Roma have won their last four against Fiorentina, with the visitors losing all three season openers in Rome so far. There’s potential for Tammy Abraham to feature and make his Serie A debut, although I doubt the Englishman will go straight into the starting eleven thanks to Eldor Shomurodov’s late strike in midweek.

After all, he is the Special One…

The likes of Nicolo Zaniolo and Lorenzo Pellegrini will be purring at the chance to get back to Serie A football, with the firepower on display for Roma looking to be too much for the visitors from Florence. They’ll have their work cut out if they are to take anything from this tie, and I can truly only see this going Mourinho’s way. He’s made a habit of getting off to fast starts at new clubs throughout his career, and I don’t see that changing in the Italian capital.

Roma’s home advantage and new manager as well as hugely talented squad are factors all leading to them taking all three points. That’s why I’m going with a Roma win with Betway.

Bet Roma to win on Betway