On Thursday evening, 2 games in the Round 16 of the Italian Cup are going to happen. The 1st game is going to be between Fiorentina and Sampdoria. This is going to be their 2nd meeting this season as the 1st match happened in November when Fiorentina won on the road. In this game, I'm predicting that Fiorentina will win in regulation.

Since the return of football, Fiorentina has played twice. In 1st game, the team drew against Monza (1:1) although Fiorentina had 22 shots and 6 on target (twice as many as opponents had). The next game was more successful as they beat Sassuolo (2:1) and their xG was 2.63. Fiorentina has been a decent home team this season with 4 wins and 3 draws in 9 games, 14 goals scored and 14 goals conceded. Fiorentina has the 2nd-best xG at home (2.37) and 3rd-best xGA (1.19).

Sampdoria restarted the season with a win on the road against Sassuolo (2:1) although opponents had a better xG and more shots while at home, the team lost to Napoli (0:2). On the road, Sampdoria has just 2 wins in 8 games, they have scored only 6 times (5th worst in the league) and conceded 15 times (8th worst). The team has the 5th-worst xG away from home (1.1) and the 9th-worst xGA (1.67).

Someone could think that Fiorentina's home record could not be very good. I want to disagree. Both losses this season in Serie A for the team have been against Inter and Lazio. They have 3 draws and 2 were against Napoli and Juventus. Yes, only the split against Monza was bad but that can happen to every team while other home results are respectable. On the road, Sampdoria has won or drawn only teams that currently are in 12th place or lower. Fiorentina has won 2 out of the last 3 matchups against Sampdoria in front of their fans and this trend should continue today.

本译文使用有道机器翻译，仅供参考：

周四晚上，意大利杯第16轮将进行两场比赛。第一场比赛将在佛罗伦萨和桑普多利亚之间进行。这将是他们本赛季的第二次交锋，第一场比赛发生在11月，当时佛罗伦萨在客场获胜。在这场比赛中，我预测佛罗伦萨会在常规赛中获胜。

自从足球回归以来，佛罗伦萨参加了两次比赛。在第一场比赛中，球队1:1战平蒙扎，尽管佛罗伦萨有22次射门和6次射正(是对手的两倍)。下一场比赛更加成功，他们以2:1击败了萨索洛，xG为2.63。本赛季，佛罗伦萨在9场比赛中4胜3平，进14球失14球，是一支不错的主场球队。佛罗伦萨在主场拥有第二好的xG(2.37)和第三好的xGA(1.19)。

桑普多利亚在客场战胜萨索洛(2:1)重新开始了赛季，尽管对手在主场拥有更好的xG和更多的射门，但球队还是输给了那不勒斯(0:2)。在客场，桑普多利亚在8场比赛中只取得了2场胜利，他们只有6次进球(联赛倒数第5)，15次失球(联赛倒数第8)。这支球队在客场的xG排名第五(1.1)，xGA排名第九(1.67)。

有人可能会认为佛罗伦萨的主场战绩不会很好。我不同意。这支球队本赛季在意甲的两场失利都是对阵国米和拉齐奥。他们有3场平局，其中2场是对阵那不勒斯和尤文图斯。是的，只有对阵蒙扎的比赛很糟糕，但这可能发生在每一支球队身上，而其他主场的成绩都很不错。在客场，桑普多利亚只赢或平了目前排名第12位或更低的球队。佛罗伦萨在最近3场对阵桑普多利亚的比赛中赢了2场，这一趋势今天应该会继续下去。