Lazio vs Roma: Biancocelesti hoping to end Roma’s resurgent form
Six points separate Lazio from fifth-placed Roma as the Biancocelesti aim to halt their cross-town rivals in their tracks and close the gap on the top four. The hosts come into this game in awful form, to say the least. Injuries certainly have not helped their cause, and even more worrying is how quickly the goals have dried up for Simone Inzaghi’s side.
Key striker Ciro Immobile has been struggling with form and fitness since the end of last year, and in fact, has scored just once in Serie A since December. Since the start of 2019, Lazio has scored more than one goal in a match on just one occasion. That was during an expected victory over third-tier side Novara in the Coppa Italia, during which they netted four goals. Since then, they have only netted one goal per match, which was enough to see off the likes of Frosinone and Empoli, but not enough to find a way past Napoli and Juventus.
Against Sevilla, they were shut out over two legs as they lost 3-0 on aggregate in the round of 32. And whilst they still do have a chance of progressing to the Coppa Italia finals after recording a scoreless draw against AC Milan, with the form new Rossoneri signing Piatek is in, Lazio certainly can’t count on holding Milan to another scoreless stalemate to try their luck on penalties like they did against Inter.
Seven points behind fourth-placed AC Milan, a top-four finish isn’t out of the running but it seems highly unlikely unless of Lazio can turn things around and that will start in the Derby della Capitale. It won’t be easy, though. Roma has been in resurgent form lately, with three straight wins in Serie A and four victories from their last five across all competitions.
Eusebio Di Francesco’s side have one foot into the Champions League quarter-finals after beating Porto 2-1 in the first leg, and the impressive rise of Italian youngster Niccolo Zaniolo has not gone unnoticed. Along with veteran striker Edin Dzeko and pacey winger Stephan El Shaarawy, Roma’s attacking trio will be expected to cause some major worries for Lazio’s back line.
