The first ‘Derby della Capitale’ of the 2021/22 Serie A season comes up this Sunday, with Lazio playing host to AS Roma in the sixth round of the league season.
Venue: Stadio Olimpico (Rome)
Key Statistics
Lazio are winless in four competitive matches (D2, L2).
They are unbeaten in 15 Serie A matches at home (W13, D2).
AS Roma have won seven of their last eight competitive matches.
Six of the previous eight derbies witnessed 6+ yellow cards.
Head to Head (H2H)
AS Roma have won seven of the last 13 Serie A meetings between both sides. Lazio have four wins in that same period, while four ended in a stalemate.
Latest Performances in all competitions
Lazio: D-D-L-L-W-W (Goals for 12, Goals against 8)
Roma: W-L-W-W-W-W (Goals for 17, Goals against 5)
Lazio
Lazio needed a late penalty goal to rescue a point for them in their last game against Torino.
The result extended their winless run to four games in all competitions and left them sitting in 7th place in the league after five games.
They will welcome their city cousins to the Olimpico, hoping to pick up a win here and close the gap that is fast opening at the top of the table. They are also looking to avoid the unwanted record of losing back-to-back Serie A head-to-heads for the first time in nearly five years.
Maurizio Sarri’s side needs no extra motivation for this tie as they would be buoyed by a strong crowd who will want to spoil their opponent’s strong start to the season.
But he will be without the service of Mattia Zaccagni, who misses out on this tie because of a muscle injury. Bobby Adekanye is another injury absentee for Sarri’s side.
Possible Lazio starting line-ups
Pepe Reina; Elseid Hysaj, Francesco Acerbi, Luiz Felipe, Manuel Lazzari; Lucas Leiva, Sergej Milinkovic-Savic, Luis Alberto; Felipe Anderson, Pedro, Ciro Immobile.
AS Roma
Roma bounced back from a disappointing loss to Verona last week to beat Udinese in midweek in their last Serie A game of the season.
Despite playing with ten men, José Mourinho‘s men held on to take home all three points in that game, thanks to a Tammy Abraham‘s goal.
The result ensured that the away team remained within three points of the top. They will now hope they can maintain their impressive start to the season by picking up another three points in this tie.
But Mourinho might have to play this game without Matías Vina and Tammy Abraham, who might not be fit enough to start this game. Meanwhile, Leonardo Spinazzola remains a long-term injury absentee for Roma.
Possible AS Roma starting line-ups
Rui Patricio; Rick Karsdorp, Gianluca Mancini, Roger Ibanez, Ricardo Califiori; Bryan Cristante, Jordan Veretout; Nicolo Zaniolo, Stephan El Shaarawy, Henrikh Mkhitaryan; Tammy Abraham.
Probability
Lazio win : Draw : AS Roma :: 37% : 27% : 36%
Prediction
AS Roma look in good shape heading into this tie and will fancy their chances of picking up a win against this struggling Lazio side.
