Lazio on Sunday evening at the Stadio Marc’Antonio Bentegodi in the second round of the 2015/16 Serie A campaign with the teams coming into the game after differing results.
The Flying Donkeys go into this encounter in a lofty second place after a 3-1 victory away to Empoli in round one but face a stern test against a strong Lazio side who finished third place last term.
The Verona outfit went behind early on but three goals in eight second half minutes washed away the Empoli defence to ensure the points went north to Veneto.
On the other hand the visitors will remain confident of getting a result away from home but go into the tie bruised following an early Champions League exit at the hand of Bayer Leverkusen.
After winning the home leg 1-0, the Biancocelesti fell to a humbling 3-0 defeat in Germany, with the capital outfit demoted to Europa League football away from the riches of Europe’s premier club competition.
Lazio will believe they will have enough ability to overcome the modest resources at Chievo’s disposal, however, fatigue could certainly play a major role in how the fixture pans out and rotation in Stefano Pioli’s squad is likely.
Neither side took advantage of their most recent encounter back in April, recording a 1-1 draw recorded in Rome with goals from Miroslav Klose and Alberto Paloschi ensuring the points were shared.
Chievo last defeated the Biancocelesti back in January 2012 but a draw is the most frequent result when these sides have met, occurring on 11 occasions out of 26 encounters in which these sides have met.
Lazio will be confident of gaining something from the match with Sunday’s opponents only recording a victory once in their last 12 matches against the capital outfit.
Chievo’s Mariano Izco and Ivan Radovanovic miss Sunday’s match after carrying injuries through preseason, although there are no fresh injury concerns for Maran’s side.
Marco Parolo, Senad Lulic and Felipe Anderson will all be assessed prior to the match with fitness concerns highlighted after playing midweek in the Champions League Play-off.
Klose, Federico Marchetti, Lucas Biglia and Filip Djordjevic all miss out through injury.
Form Guide Chievo (L-W) Lazio (W-W-L)
Expected Starting XIs
Lazio: Berisha; Basta, De Vrij, Gentiletti, Radu; Parolo, Milinkovic-Savic, Cataldi; Candreva, Keita, Kishna.
Chievo: Bizzarri; Gobbi, Dainelli, Cesar, Frey; Hetemaj, Rigoni, Birsa, Castro; Paloschi, Meggiorini
