Third place Roma will try to make quick work of seventeenth place Atalanta Sunday in an attempt to reclaim the second place spot.
The capital club are undoubtedly fierce rivals with city neighbors Lazio, and will be furious at having lost their second place position last weekend to the Biancocelesti after drawing 1-1 away to Torino as Lazio crushed Empoli 4-0.
However, only a single point separate the two clubs, and Roma will be looking to use this match against Atalanta to take back the spot they have held for the majority of this season, seeing that the Biancocelesti have a highly difficult game against first place Juventus in hand.
Atalanta, on the other hand, are one place away from relegation spots, even though they hold a comfortable seven point cushion on 18th place Cesena.
The Bergamo club emerged 2-1 victors last week against Sassuolo, but the club will need a major upset to defeat Roma at the Olimpico.
La Dea have won just eight times in 32 matchups with the Giallorossi, with Roma having won significantly more at 21 times. The two sides have only drawn three times thus far.
Roma also outscore Atalanta with an average of 1.72 goals to Atalanta’s 1.06 goals in games between the two. In Serie A this season, Roma has managed around 1.45 goals per game whilst Atalanta don’t even notch one goal a game, at 0.89 goals per game.
The last time the Nerazzuri have beat Roma was back in February of 2012 by a sizeable 4-1 margin, but the team have since lost to Roma every time they have played, save for a draw in January 2013.
Atalanta will head in to the match without Nicolo Cherubin, Gianpaolo Bellini, and Cristian Raimondi, all who are out with injuries. Additionally, both Maximiliano Moralez and Marcelo Estigarribia are doubts for the match, though Moralez is the likelier of the two to play.
Interestingly, Mauricio Pinilla, scorer of Atalanta’s fantastic scissor kick consolation goal against Torino, will be missing the match on his second match of a three game suspension for kicking Granata player Migjen Basha in a fit of anger.
Roma also will deal with injuries to key players Gervinho and Kevin Strootman, along with other injuries to Maicon, Vasilis Torosidis, and Leandro Castan. The Giallorossi also have a long list of doubtful players, most notably captain Francesco Totti.
Form Guide: Roma (D-W-W-L-D-D) Atalanta (W-L-D-D-D-L)
Expected Starting XIs
Roma: De Sanctis; Florenzi, Manolas, Astori, Holebas; Pjanic, De Rossi, Nainggolan; Ljajic, Ibarbo, Iturbe
Atalanta: Sportiello; Masiello, Stendardo, Benalouane, Drame; Zappacosta, Baselli, Carmona, Gomez; Moralez; Denis
