Luciano Spalletti’s side bounced back from their recent loss to local rivals Lazio with a 4-1 thrashing of Milan last time out. It was a tremendous performance and result for Roma, who will almost certainly not finish in first place but are still fighting for second spot, which brings automatic qualification for the group stage of the Champions League. Winning the title ahead of Juventus was always going to be an extremely tough task for the two-time champions, but there are still plenty of positives that Roma can take from the season they have had under Spalletti.
Juventus’ run of 33 consecutive home victories in the Italian top flight came to an end last weekend, when they were held to a 1-1 draw by city neighbours Torino; it took a last-minute strike from Gonzalo Higuain to rescue a point for the Old Lady, who are nevertheless still on the verge of wrapping up another championship crown. Juventus are also gunning for success in the Champions League and the Coppa Italia, with a historic first ever treble in the sights of manager Max Allegri in the final few weeks of the 2016/17 campaign.
Roma will have to make do without Alessandro Florenzi (knee) and Kevin Strootman, who still has one more game of his suspension to serve. Spalletti used a 4-2-3-1 formation for his side’s recent triumph over Vincenzo Montella’s Milan at San Siro, with Radja Nainggolan pushed forward into an advanced role behind lone striker Edin Dzeko, who leads the Serie A scoring charts for the season with 27 goals. At the back, central defenders Federico Fazio and Kostas Manolas will be tasked with keeping Paulo Dybala and Higuain quiet.
Juventus will be unable to call upon the services of Marko Pjaca (knee) and Daniele Rugani (knee), but Allegri otherwise has a fully fit squad to choose from. The former Milan head coach has switched between three- and four-man backlines throughout this season, but he will probably opt for the latter in order to match up with the Giallorossi on Sunday evening. Dybala will play in a No.10 role behind Higuain, with central midfielder Miralem Pjanic set to be included in the starting XI against his former employers.
Taking everything into account, it is probably worth putting some money on a draw between these two teams in the capital. Juventus will employ a reactive style of play based on sitting deep and springing forward on the counter-attack, which should be enough to bring them the point that could be enough to secure a sixth Scudetto in a row. A draw with both teams to find the back of the net is one option here, while it could also be worth exploring 1-1 in the correct scoreline market. As far as an anytime scorer goes, Juve forward Dybala would be a sensible selection.
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