Giovanni Simeone faces his former club in this surprisingly high-profile clash between Cagliari in joint fourth and equally ambitious Fiorentina.
These two clubs have big hopes for the 2019-20 campaign and invested on the transfer market to raise the bar, having flirted for too long with potential relegation last season.
Cagliari have been a revelation, as they are unbeaten in nine and went into the weekend in joint fourth place with Lazio and Atalanta.
They reached that level by beating Atalanta 2-0 in Bergamo last week and are overflowing with confidence.
Luca Ceppitelli, Valter Birsa, Alessio Cragno and Leonardo Pavoletti are out injured, but Radja Nainggolan pulls the strings behind Joao Pedro and former Fiorentina striker Simeone.
Cholito flopped during his final months at the Stadio Franchi, but has rediscovered his scoring boots at Cagliari.
Franck Ribery concludes his ban for pushing a linesman, so Federico Chiesa is this time partnered by Dusan Vlahovic rather than veteran Kevin-Prince Boateng.
Pol Lirola and Martin Caceres are back in the squad following injury lay-offs.
Cagliari: Olsen; Cacciatore, Pisacane, Klavan, Pellegrini; Nandez, Cigarini, Rog; Nainggolan; Joao Pedro, Simeone
Fiorentina: Dragowski; Milenkovic, Pezzella, Caceres; Lirola, Pulgar, Badelj, Castrovilli, Dalbert; Vlahovic, Chiesa