Roma will be looking to continue their pursuit of Serie A’s top four when they welcome Fiorentina to the Stadio Olimpico on Sunday night.
With 17 games in the books, Jose Mourinho’s side find themselves seventh in the table – three points outside the Champions League places.
As for Fiorentina, they sit ninth – eight points shy of Roma. Can La Viola close the gap between them and the Giallorossi? Or will Mourinho’s men prevail on home soil?
Roma head into Sunday’s clash on a four-game unbeaten streak in Serie A, having picked up one win and three draws since their last loss.
Following back-to-back 1-1 draws with Sassuolo and Torino, the capital club beat Bologna 1-0 before coming from 2-0 down to draw 2-2 with AC Milan at the Sin Siro.
Roma have been especially strong on home soil in recent times, losing just three of their previous 16 Serie A games at the Stadio Olimpico.
They also won at home on Thursday, beating Genoa 1-0 to book their place in the quarter-finals of the Coppa Italia – thanks to Paulo Dybala’s second-half strike.
On the flip side, Fiorentina have lost just one of their last six Serie A games – picking up four wins and one draw along the way.
La Viola claimed three straight victories over Spezia, Sampdoria and Salernitana in the lead-up to the World Cup, before drawing with Monza and beating Sassuolo after the break.
When you look at the bigger picture, however, Fiorentina have only managed to win six of their 17 league games this season – scoring 21 goals while conceding 22.
Like Roma, Fiorentina booked their place in the quarter-finals of the Coppa Italia with a 1-0 win on Thursday – knocking out Sampdoria in the process.
Head-to-head: Fiorentina have only managed to win one of their last eight Serie A matched against Roma, with the capital club winning five of the previous six.
Given that La Viola have won just two of their past 11 league meetings with Roma, Mourinho’s men will be confident of claiming all three points on Sunday.
Team news: Roma will be without the injured midfield duo of Georginio Wijnaldum (knee) and Ebrima Darboe (cruciate ligament) on Sunday.
Fiorentina have a number of injury doubts, too, including Arthur Cabral, Riccardo Sottil, Rolando Mandragora and Pietro Terracciano.
Thanks to their impressive record on home soil, Roma will be confident of extending their unbeaten streak in Serie A to five games on Sunday.
Forebet predicts that Roma will score over 1.5 goals on their way to beating Fiorentina, with the hosts also expected to keep a clean sheet.