AS Roma – Benevento (Serie A)
AS Roma and Benvento face each other on Sunday at the Stadio Olimpico, in Rome, for the 24th round of the Serie A. After six consecutive matches without a single victory in the league, the Romans were finally able to put an end to their winless streak, triumphing by the minimum margin away to Hellas Verona, in the previous round of the competition. Benevento, on their turn, after surprising against Chievo and Sampdoria returned to their normal momentum, suffering defeat after defeat.
AS Roma are in 5th place with 44 points, from 13 victories, 5 draws and 5 defeats, with 33 goals scored and 17 goals conceded. The trip to Hellas Verona’s ground, in the previous match, resulted in their first victory since December 16, with the Romans going through a winless streak of 6 consecutive Serie A games. Fortunately, the team returned to winning ways at the right time and are still on the race for 3rd place, occupied by Lazio with just a 2 point advantage.
La Maggica are winless in their last 3 home matches in the competition, losing the last 2, with just 2 goals scored and 4 conceded, so they will look to get back to the good home momentum they have already shown this season. Finishing scoring chances has been their weak spot, as the team manages to create several scoring chances but fail to finishing them. Luckily they are very well organized at the back, which is the main reason they are still contenders for a Champions League spot at the end of the season.
In their last 5 official matches, Roma has a record of 1 victory, 2 draws and 2 defeats. This sequence of results started with a 1-2 defeat against Atalanta. This result was followed by a 1-1 draw away to Internazionale, a 1-1 draw away to Sampdoria, a 0-1 defeat against Sampdoria, and in their last match, a 0-1 defeat against Hellas Verona. Pellegrini and Nainggolan, both suspended, and Schick, Gonalons and Karsdorp, injured, are all out for this match.
Probable Lineup: Alisson – Florenzi, Manolas, Fazio and Kolarov – Rossi and Strootman – Perotti, Under and Shaarawy – Dzeko.
Benevento, on their turn, are in 20th place with only 7 points, from 2 victories, 1 draw and 20 defeats, with 13 goals scored and 51 goals conceded. Benevento ended 2017 and opened 2018 in the best way possible, beating both Chievo and Sampdoria, but quickly returned to the same form they have been showing all season, which is suffering defeats after defeats, and come here at the back of 3 consecutive defeats. Already 13 points bellow a safety zone, the team has little, if any, hope of fighting for maintenance, with relegation becoming an increasingly close reality.
The team have lost all their 11 Serie A away matches, scoring only 3 goals and conceding 25 in the process. They have conceded goals in their away matches and were unable of score a single goal on 8 matches. Only in 3 of these 11 away games did the team concede less than 2 goals. Benevento does not present a clear playing philosophy and create most of their scoring chances through counter-attacks.
In their last 5 official matches, Benvento has a record of 2 victories and 3 defeats. This sequence of results started with a 1-0 victory against Chievo. This result was followed by a 3-2 win against Sampdoria, a 3-0 defeat against Bologna, a 3-0 defeat against Torino, and in their last match, a 0-2 defeat against Napoli. Luca Antei, injured, and Fabio Lucioni, suspended, are both out for this match.
Probable Lineup: Belec – Djimsiti, Costa and Venuti – Cataldi, Guilherme, Sandro, D’Alessandro and Letizia – Djuricic – Coda.
AS Roma won their only direct clash.
| Benevento | 0-4 | Roma |
Serie A 2017/18
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This match puts face to face two sides with different realities. Roma fights for the top spots in the table, while Benevento sees the relegation to Serie B more and more closer. With a very well organized defensive sector, and motivated after the victory in the last match, Roma have all it takes to get a victory with a clean sheet here.
