Roma vs Genoa

Roma will face off against Genoa at the Stadio Olimpico with the pressure of knowing they must win in order to ensure that they keep pace with the league leaders of Inter Milan. The two clubs are coming off of positive results in week 31 as Roma drew away from home while Genoa held serve at home.

Roma played to a 1-1 draw away to Cagliari at the Stadio Sant’Elia and that result cancelled out Inter Milan’s draw in their match away to Lazio. The side managed by Nedo Spalletti are now in 2^nd place of Serie A with 65 points on the year. They are 7 points ahead of 3^rd place Juventus- but having played 1 more match – while trailing 1^st place Inter Milan by 4 points. Roma have won 3 of their last 5 matches while drawing once and losing the remaining match. The club suffered a bad result this week in the quarter finals of the Champions League as they lost at home to Manchester United by a score of 0-2 in the first leg. The injured list has some important players on it this week including club captain Francesco Totti along with defenders Juan and Ferrari. The absence of Totti in attack will be filled by Vucinic with Taddei and Giuly starting on the wings. Tonetto will start at left fullback with Panucci sliding over to the center back position to partner with Mexes.

Genoa come into this match in 8^th place of the Serie A table with 42 points on the season. They are 7 points back of 7^th place Sampdoria and 1 point ahead of 9^th place Atalanta Bergamo. Last week il grifone were able to hold serve at home over Reggina by a score of 2-0 at the Stadio Luigi Ferraris. The win was the second straight for the side managed by Gasperini and their unbeaten run has now reached 3 consecutive games. There are only 2 injury absences expected this week with Paro and Santos having been ruled out, while midfielder Milanetto came down with an infection in his leg earlier this week but is not expected to have to miss out. Look for Genoa to go with their 3-4-3 standard formation featuring Sculli, Borriello and Leon in attack.

Morale in the Roma camp is certainly low this week following the slip up at home to Manchester United. Spalletti will need to decide if he wants to rest any regulars this week in hopes of pulling off a miracle in Manchester next week. At this point it appears they have a better chance of challenging for Serie A but there is no telling what type of formation he will go with and the fact that Totti is out is a huge absence both in terms of talent and mental strength. Genoa have a quality side that just could pull off an upset or in the very least pull out a point.

Prediction: Draw (0-0)