Roma vs Lazio is now just an hour away, with the two sides set to battle it for bragging rights over the Italian capital. The match will kick-off at 15:00 local time, or 14:00 BST, and will see both sides look to get over shaky starts to the season and show that, even at this stage, they are Champions League place contenders.
Roma come into the game with just two wins from their opening seven in all competitions. Most recently they defeated Frosinone 4-0 but it had been six games since their last victory; which came on the opening match-week against Torino. Roma have suffered defeats against Bologna, Real Madrid and AC Milan, whilst they’ve been held to draws by Chievo and Atalanta.
Lazio, meanwhile, have won their last five games in all competitions in a row, defeating Udinese, Genoa, Apollon, Empoli and Frosinone; after losing their opening two of the season against Napoli and Juventus. Despite this, Lazio have worked hard since and currently sit in 4th place in Serie A; as of before the derby kicks-off. A win for Lazio could see them go up to 3rd or 2nd in the table.
It is fair to say that a Laziale should never be too optimistic about the derby, up to the point where it breeds complacency and over-confidence. Game-plans often go straight out of the window and sometimes it can come down to purely which team wants to win more. Simone Inzaghi will look to cover multiple bases with his match preparation; knowing that Roma can easily adopt a number of different tactics. It will be down to Lazio to counter these and work effectively as a team to adapt to whatever Roma may throw at them.
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