Roma Continue Rebuild Under Ranieri
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There is plenty of action to look forward to in Serie A this weekend and on Sunday we have arguably the biggest match of the week.
Roma welcome Napoli to the Stadio Olimpico in the Italian capital for a cracking match featuring two teams in the top five.
Roma find themselves in 5th place ahead of the weekend fixtures and have some work to do in order to break into the top four. They are 4 points behind 4th place AC Milan and cannot afford to drop further behind. Napoli are in 2nd place but being 15 points adrift of leaders Juventus, that’s the best they can hope for this season.
The hosts are working under a new manager following the dismissal of Eusebio di Francesco. Claudio Ranieri returns to Rome with work to do as Roma have won one and lost three of their last four games in all competitions.
However, despite the negativity following the Porto defeat in the Champions League and heavy loss to Lazio in Serie A, Roma have been good at home in the league. Trends show they have remained undefeated in their last eight home Serie A matches and have won five of their last six in-front of their own fans.
Roma have defeated Sampdoria, Genoa, Sassuolo, Torino, Bologna and Empoli. Their only concern will be their defensive record and both teams have scored in each of their last eight home league games.
Napoli are in awkward position in that despite being second in Serie A, they have nothing to play for in terms of the title. Perhaps this has shown in recent results where they have not been at their best. Napoli have won two of their last six Serie A matches and one of the last three.
Perhaps the most damaging defeat came at home in the game against league leaders Juventus and following that game Napoli were held to a draw at Sassuolo.
Trends show Napoli are undefeated in their last four away Serie A games and have kept a clean sheet in four of their last six. However, they have only managed to pick up one win in their last five on the road and this is going to be a big test.
Looking ahead to the team news and Roma have long list of injured players including Stephan El Shaarawy, Alessandro Florenzi, Lorenzo Pellegrini and William Bianda. Cengiz Under, Daniele De Rossi and Javier Pastore are being monitored day-to-day.
Napoli travel without the suspended Piotr Zielinski and injured trio of Lorenzo Insigne, Vlad Chiriches and Raul Albiol.
Roma have a very good record at home in Serie A recently and will be keen to push on for the top four this season. We could see a home win with both teams scoring in what should be a very exciting match.
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