Serie A action continues this weekend for the final time in 2023 as Lazio play hosts to Frosinone at the Stadio Olimpico with the Rome outfit looking to end their year on a high after a dreadful start to the first half of the season.
Despite a fantastic finish to the 2022/23 season earlier on in the year that saw Lazio finish third in Serie A, the club have struggled tremendously in the second half of the calendar.
Currently, with one more domestic game to go, Maurizio Sarri sees his men all the way down in ninth and with only a solid run in the Champions League to shout about.
Sarris did lose the final and most recent game in the Champions League away to Atletico Madrid, but Lazio still managed to end up in second with the same amount of goals scored as conceded and 10 points from the six games that includes three wins.
They now have a meeting with Bayern Munich to look forward to and a spot in the quarter-finals of the Coppa Italia.
Back in Serie A, however, a recent defeat to Inter Milan on home soil puts them six points adrift of fifth-placed Fiorentina and seven behind the top four ahead of matchday 18.
They also now have almost half the points tally as the league leaders Inter after that defeat two weeks ago.
Lazio did return to the win column just before Christmas, as Matteo Guendouzi scored a first half goal before Mattia Zaccagni netted in the second 45 away to Empoli.
As for Frosinone, they are still living off the high of stunning Napoli 4-0 at the home of the champions in the Coppa Italia round of 16 just over a week ago.
Enzo Barrenechea, Guiseppe Caso, Walid Cheddira and Abdou Harroui all netted that day in what is arguably Italian football’s craziest result of the past few years.
Similar to Lazio, however, despite a great run in other competitions, Frosinone continue to struggle in Serie A.
They are currently winless in the past three games after losses to Juventus and Lecce before a lacklustre 0-0 draw with Torino last time out.
The Canaries are now down in 14th, although fans will still be pleased to see a six-point gap on the bottom three ahead of the halfway mark in the league campaign.
Forebet predicts a win for Lazio and under 2.5 goals.