Sampdoria – Roma
Can Roma really do it? Can they beat Juventus for the Serie A title this season? For now the dream seems to be real as Roma are just one point behind Juve in the standings, although the Bianconeri still have a game in hand.
After losing the big derby against Juve at the Juventus Stadium, Luciano Spalletti’s boys won all of their next four matches in the Serie A. In same time Juventus lost their visit to Florence against Fiorentina, which allowed Roma to reduce the gap between them and the reigning champions.
Everyone at Roma knows that they must continue winning, if they want to keep their hopes of winning the title alive. Now they will have another tough test ahead of them, travelling to Genova to face Sampdoria.
Although some might say that it won’t be much of a difficult game for Roma, if we look at the standings and the current form of the two teams. While Roma are very consistent in their performance, winning four games in a row, Sampdoria didn’t win neither one of their last five matches. They lost three of them – against Chievo, Napoli and Atalanta, and won just a point against Udinese and Empoli.
Roma still can’t use the Italian international Alessandro Florenzi, who is recovering from a knee injury. The experienced Daniele De Rossi is also recovering from a calf injury, while Abdullahi Nura is once again fit to play after a lengthy spell at the sidelines.
Sampdoria’s manager Marco Giampaolo can’t use the suspended Pedro Pereira, while Caros Carbonero is recovering from an injury. Ricardo Alvarez, Stanley Amuzie, Mirko Eramo, Jacopo Sala, Emiliano Viviano and Antonio Cassano are all doubtful for the clash because of different reasons.
Most certainly Roma will try to make it five in a row against Sampdoria, while the home team will try to win for a first time since December 4.