Sliema Wanderers will start life under Alfonso Greco this afternoon when they face Old Firm rivals Floriana at the Tedesco Stadium (kick-off: 4.15pm).

The Italian agreed to a second spell as Blues coach on Monday and will replace Stephen Azzopardi who was relieved off his duties earlier this month.

Greco, who also coached Żebbuġ Rangers in the Maltese league, faces a tough return when he leads the Wanderers against a Floriana side in good form lately, losing one match from the last four and pushing hard for a top-four finish this season.

Greco said: “It took me very little time to settle down at Sliema as I have good knowledge on how things work at the club.

“Floriana will surely be a difficult test for us but I’m looking forward to the challenge. The players did well in training all week even though we didn’t have a lot of time to work on certain aspects.”

The Blues enter the weekend in good spirits following the 1-0 win over Tarxien Rainbows which brought to an end a depressing run of five successive defeats.

Greco, who attended the match at the Tedesco Stadium, said he was impressed with the character shown by the players against the Rainbows. He wants the team to repeat the same committed play against Floriana.

“Sliema showed a lot of fight to beat Tarxien and that is the kind of spirit we have to produce in every match from now till the end of the season,” Greco said.

“Floriana will be no easy opponents for sure. Enrico Chiesa, Matteo Piciollo and Mauricio Villa have a lot of quality but we too have excellent players in our squad so I’m expecting a really tough battle here.

“With the squad we have Sliema should be finish in a higher position in the standings and the only thing that we can do about that is to give everything we have in all our remaining matches.”

Greco will be without two key players today as Njongo Priso starts a two-match ban and midfielder Johann Bezzina, scorer of the winner against the Rainbows, is also suspended.

Floriana will again be without midfielder Clyde Borg, who is nursing a knee injury, but they are boosted with the return from suspension of Mauricio Villa and Juninho.

The Greens hold an edge over their Old Firm rivals as they won both their previous league meetings this season. Coach Luis Oliveira, however, is not taking the Wanderers lightly.

“If there is one thing that I have learnt here is that for us there are no straightforward matches,” the former Fiorentina striker said.

“Sliema may not have enjoyed a very positive campaign so far but they still possess a valid squad and their players will be extra motivated to do well now that they have a new coach.

“We have to see what tactics Greco will apply but I’m not too concerned about that… the most important thing is that we play to our strength.”

Last week, Floriana broke little sweat in seeing off Naxxar 4-0 but despite the comfortable scoreline Oliveira was not fully satisfied with his team’s performance.

“I was not happy with how things went against Naxxar Lions,” Oliveira said.

“Our defending, particularly in the first half, was rather poor and we were lucky Naxxar did not take the chances they had as it could have been a different story.

“Also, in attack we created countless chances but struggled to put them away.

“Certainly, we need to be much more efficient in all areas of our game. I spoke to the players about this and I made it clear that Floriana cannot afford such lapses as they could prove costly.

“We are in the final stretch of the season and every point counts now. Apart from the league we are also in the FA Trophy quarter-finals so we have a lot to play for.

“The fans expect a lot from us and the least we can do is to continue with our good work and finish the season as best as we can.”

Previous results: Sliema Wanderers vs Floriana 0-3, 1-2.