Roma travel to Sicily on Sunday to face Palermo, a side that gave the Giallorossi a surprising amount of trouble last term.
Despite Roma’s eventual second-place finish in the 2014-15 Serie A season, Palermo managed to take four points over their two matches, including a win at the Stadio Olimpico.
Neither club will be lingering too much on those results, however, as they concentrate on improving hitherto lacklustre campaigns.
Roma currently sit in sixth place, having won three, drawn twice and lost to Sampdoria in the midweek match ahead of their 5-1 win over newly promoted Carpi last weekend.
An extensive revamp this summer at Roma that included a dramatic overhaul of the defensive back line has been compromised by an improbable amount of injuries.
Edin Dzeko and Francesco Totti are unlikely to be available for Sunday’s match. Antonio Rudiger, Seydou Keita and Alessandro Florenzi are all also likely to miss out.
This dearth of options has already hurt Rudi Garcia’s side as they lost 3-2 to BATE Borisov in their Champions League fixture on Wednesday.
Mohamed Salah and Miralem Pjanic should both be fit however and could prove decisive having so far contributed five goals and two assists between them.
Palermo sit in 12th place and are similarly having to adjust to losses to their squad, though in their case its in the form of the gaping hole left by the sale of Paulo Dybala to Juventus this summer.
The young Argentine striker contributed 13 goals and 10 assists last term, a goalscoring return that any side would have difficulty in replacing.
An encouraging start to Palermo’s season that featured two wins against Genoa and Udinese has soured after they lost each of their last three games, including last Sunday’s 2-1 loss to Torino that came despite the Sicilians enjoying a man advantage for a third of the game.
Dybala’s heir apparent in Franco Vazquez will help lead the line for Palermo. However, the side’s chances may well revolve around centre-back Abdelhamid El Kaoutari and goalkeeper Stefano Sorrentino’s performances.
Palermo will be missing Michel Morganella, Uros Djurdjevic and Francesco Bolzoni through injury.
Form Guide: Palermo (W-W-D-L-L-L) – Roma (D-W-W-D-L-W)
Likely Starting XIs:
Palermo: Sorrentino; El Kaoutari, Gonzalez, Struna; Daprela, Chochev, Hiljemark, Rispoli; Vazquez; Quaison, Trajkovski
Roma: Szczesny; Digne, De Rossi, Manolas, Torosidis; Ucan, Nainggolan, Pjanic; Gervinho, Salah, Falque
