League leaders Ajax play away at second-placed and reigning champions PSV, who are six points behind Ajax and could either make or break their title challenge this Sunday. However, during Friday's press conference, Farioli declined to call this a crucial game in the battle for the championship.
"Not at all. It’s a game which is important, it’s one of the biggest games in the league," said Farioli. "The reality is that there are 24 points that need to be earned.
"My way of working and the attention we put into the game... We do the same for teams at the bottom of the league and at the top. I try to give respect to every team we face."
Ajax boasted an 8-point lead ahead of their last Eredivisie match, a 2-2 home draw to AZ. Like on other occasions this season, Ajax seemingly struggled to fight the opponents' high pressure. Farioli disagreed with this notion. "You think the game against AZ didn’t go well? In my opinion, the game against AZ was quite a positive one. We had the biggest chances.
"There are different possibilities against PSV. Our task is to find the proper answer to what the opponent will do, with flexibility, as well as with what we’ve been doing since the start of the season and being on top of the small details."
Due to injuries, Ajax will be without striker Wout Weghorst, goalkeeper Remko Pasveer, and midfielder Youri Regeer. Weghorst's omission especially frustrates Farioli: "I think he made a scan every three days to check the progression. It took a bit longer, he did everything he could."
Right-back Anton Gaaei will also miss Sunday's game after getting sent off against AZ. Brazilian Lucas Rosa is in line to replace him, but Farioli refused to name him the starter just yet. "There are options. There are players who also played there with us. There are several options, and Lucas is one of them.
"We can make a very long list. Kian (Fitz-Jim) already played there, Kenneth (Taylor) could explore a new position," Farioli said laughingly.
Progression
35-year-old Farioli took the Ajax job last Summer after a season in which the Amsterdam side finished 35 points behind champions PSV. Very few people expected Ajax to be fighting for the title already. Farioli acknowledges winning the title was and is not Ajax's goal for this season and that he'd be happy with finishing in second, too.
"I had an interesting conversation, also with Alex (Kroes) yesterday, as a review of the season. We enforced that the priority here is to return the club to the Champions League. Ideally, with a spot in the top 2, the position is what the club asked me at the beginning of the season."
However, Farioli reassured that a draw against PSV will not suffice. "You guys like to draw comparisons to previous seasons with other managers and other players, different budgets, but the reality is that we come from a season with a gap of 35 points to PSV.
"We lost 5 to 6 players in the meantime, who were starters. As you can imagine, the journey has been quite long, and we go there to play our game with a lot of attention, desire, and to try to achieve the maximum."
Ajax meet PSV after a form crisis that saw them lose the top spot after they picked up just three wins from nine league games. Farioli refused to take anything away from them. "I look at the club with a lot of respect, knowing they're the Eredivisie champions. It’s a team of 25+ players of an incredible level with a really experienced coach. All my respect to them."
However, the Italian was also clear about who the pressure is currently on. "The pressure is definitely not on Ajax. "