Lazio vs Catania

Lazio return home to the Stadio Olimpico di Roma hoping to recover quickly from their bad loss away to Inter Milan in their Round 12 make up match. They will be up against a Catania outfit who put together one of their more polished performances of the season last week at home to Palermo.

The side managed by Delio Rossi have been victimized this season by mental gaffes at precisely the wrong moments at the defensive end and this has seen them concede an alarming 20 goals over their 14 matches. The lack of focus has been especially glaring when it comes to set pieces as markers have been missing their assignments repeatedly. Catania have not been much better than Lazio this season but given their history as being a lower league club, anything they accomplish in the first division is always reason for celebration. At this time they are in 10^th place of the Serie A table with 18 points while Lazio are 15^th with 14 points.

While Baldini’s club will have a couple of important absences this week such as Giacomo Tedesco who is out injured as well as being suspended for this match and the Uruguayan Jorge Martinez who is also suspended, Catania will continue to utilize their base 4-3-3 system. Midfielder Izco has been the player selected to cover for Tedesco on the outside right position while Colucci will swap places with Martinez. Martinez is currently leading the club in scoring with 5 goals. Lazio have not been a dominant club at home with just 2 wins in 7 matches and Catania feel they have as good a chance of taking the 3 points as they would have at home.

The Romans are in the middle of a rough spell which has seen them win just 1 of their last 5 matches. They did receive some good news this week on the injury front as both Stendardo and Goran Pandev, who had left the match against Inter Milan due to injury, have been given the green light to participate this week and Pandev is already penciled in as a starter. This match will also feature the return of Mutarelli who missed the last 3 matches due to suspension. These developments will allow Rossi to go with his typical 4-3-1-2 formation with Mauri as the play maker behind Rocchi and Pandev and the Argentine Ledesma sitting back in central midfield.

While Lazio have not been impressive at home this season, they should be able to find a way to get the job done this week. Catania have yet to win away from home this year and will be missing their top marksman. Failure to win for Lazio in the run up to their Champions League match against Real Madrid would put an enormous amount of pressure on Rossi and his side.

Prediction: Lazio 1-0