Roma keep top four ambitions in Serie A alive

Roma’s push for the top four in the Italian Serie A remain on course as they secured a 1-0 win against Fiorentina.

Artem Dovbyk scored the only goal that gave them maximum points, along with a series of fantastic Mile Svilar saves, which allowed Roma to beat Fiorentina and stake their case for a top-four finish under Claudio Ranieri.

In the head-to-head competition between teams fighting for a top-four finish, the Giallorossi used the same starting lineup that beat Inter last week and achieved similar outcomes.

Both teams got their first chances, with Lorenzo Pellegrini and Amir Richardson having their long-range efforts deflected.

Kean then released Zeki Celik to go clear, forcing Mile Svilar to rush off his line and make himself big to parry.

Moments later, Kean beat Gianluca Mancini, shooting a low angled drive that drew another difficult one-handed save from Svilar at the near post.

Celik got down the right and released a ferocious strike that David De Gea punched over from a tricky angle. The goalkeeper then fingertipped the resulting corner off Mancini’s head.

After Kean fired straight at Svilar from the edge of the area,  Roma took the lead deep into first-half stoppages. 

After De Gea flew to palm the Eldor Shomurodov half-volley out from under the crossbar for a corner,  Shomurodov knocked down the Angelino cross from the resulting corner for a Dovbyk diving header at the back post. 

Fiorentina protested, feeling the minute was far beyond the allocated time.

After the restart, Manu Kone called  De Gea to action from a distance.

Fiorentina maintained a long spell of pressure, and former Roma player Zaniolo completely miskicked the Amir Richardson pull-back from six yards.

Svilar, with strong reflexes, saved Rolando Mandragora’s shot from a loose ball just inside the box. He stuck out a boot to parry, then made a desperate double save when Mandragora’s first-time pass to Kean. He then managed to get his gloves to the first attempt and smothered the rebound.

Tension was in the air after the final whistle as Zaniolo received a red card when he tried to confront the referee.