Roma will seek to end their recent run of draws as they travel to the Stadio Bentegodi to face lowly Chievo in Serie A on Sunday afternoon.
The Giallorossi have slowly been losing ground to league leaders Juventus as their inability to win has seen Rudi Garcia’s side draw a remarkable nine times in their last twelve league outings, leaving them trailing the Bianconeri by nine points.
In recent weeks Chievo have managed to haul themselves out of the relegation zone, thanks to back to back-to-back wins against Parma and Sampdoria but more recently fell to a crushing defeat against Empoli and held AC Milan to a goalless draw, leaving them five points clear of the bottom three.
The last time the two sides met was in October as Mattia Destro, Adem Ljajic and Francesco Totti all scored during the first half to earn a convincing 3-0 win for Garcia’s side at the Stadio Olimpico. When the clubs played at the Bentegodi last season Roma once again were cruising by the interval courtesy of Destro and Gervinho as the side eased to a 2-0 win in March 2014.
Chievo head coach Rolando Maran will still be without the injured Nicolas Frey but could make a change in midfield with Ivan Radanovic coming in for Valter Birsa. Federico Mattiello, who impressed in his first game for the club looks set to continue at right-back and Alberto Paloschi will probably miss out on a return to the starting XI as Maran will be likely to continue with his front pairing of Riccardo Meggiroini and Sergio Pellissier.
Garcia, on the other hand, has been forced into two changes with both Vasilis Torosidis and Mapou Yanga-Mbiwa serving suspensions for the game. Alessandro Florenzi is likely to resume his duties as fullback and Davide Astori could fill in at centre-back for Yanga-Mbiwa.
After his ineffectual performance against Juventus, Francesco Totti could be replaced by Juan Iturbe and Radja Nainggolan could come in for Miralem Pjanic, who is one booking away from a suspension. Ashley Cole could also make a rare start at the expense of Jose Holebas.
Form Guide: Chievo (L-L-W-W-L-D) Roma (D-D-W-D-D-D)
Expected Starting XIs
Chievo: Bizzarri; Mattiello, Cesar, Dainelli, Zukanovic; Schelotto, Izco, Radovanovic, Hetemaj; Meggiorini, Pellissier
Roma: De Sanctis; Florenzi, Manolas, Astori, Cole; Keita, De Rossi, Nainggolan; Gervinho, Iturbe, Ljajic
