Roma vs Lazio Match preview

Italy - Serie A: Roma vs Lazio

One only has to say ‘Derbi della Capitale’ and everybody will know what he is talking about. The clash between Roma and Lazio is one of the greatest football matches in the World and one of the most famous local derbies. Rome is divided in two and supporting one of the teams is not just a life style but also shows social and class background. The scale of the rivalry could be seen in the fact that Laziali and Romanisti are in the shadow of rich clubs from the North and these teams are rarely fighting for the title. Still, that doesn’t lessen the importance of the match or the passion that makes the Italian capital virtually stop two times a year. The first derby was played in 1929 and even though the Fascist regime with Mussolini wanted to unite these two teams, not even the dictatorship could change the hatred between the teams. It grows year after year and probably neither European derby is followed by such violence like this one. The match has a political connotation as Lazio fans are notorious right wing. On the other hand, Roma gathers the supporters from the hard core of the city, mostly left wing, although this is not so strict.

Roma’s season is utterly disappointing

The start of the season refuted all the predictions about team’s chances this season. Roma is awful and they have already given up on the fight for Scudetto. They couldn’t profit from the win over Chelsea in the Champions League, having played 1:1 in Bologna. They conceded in injury time when Cicinho scored an own goal, but to be honest, they didn’t deserve to beat one of the weakest teams in Serie A. They are struggling against defense-oriented teams and the public is continuing to stress that Spalletti’s tactics no longer produces results and that they have no means to break opponent’s defense. The match against Bologna is the proof of that. The team is slowly getting the usual shape, as Totti has returned but the question is how much he will be able to help. We will see if Spalletti will change his formation but this match might decide his future in the club. If he loses, even the fans, who were very supportive so far, will turn against him. Roma have to play to win as one point is no longer an option in any of the games.

Lazio scored the most goals in Serie A

Lazio started the season in a great fashion but the inexperience of the players is to blame for some poor results. They were trashed by Milan and Bologna but they won four of the six home games. The wins over Catania and Siena helped them climb to the top four. They will surely enter this match in a better atmosphere than their rivals. Rocchi has recovered and showed that he is back in form against Siena and now coach Rossi has plenty of options to choose from. Pandev returns to the team after serving suspension and now the coach will have to find the way to play all three strikers. This may be too brave for the derby but Lazio scored 21 goals so far, the most of all teams in Serie A. They are in top four teams, which nobody could predict and the interesting fact is that they score most of the goals in the second half. They might adopt a cautious approach at the start but as the match unfolds they will probably switch to more attacking style of play. Even though they do not consider themselves favourites, they showed much more than the rivals so far.

Betting verdict

We all know that current form and league position play no part in the match like this. Last season when Roma were fighting for the title and in much better form than the rival, Lazio managed to win the game and that was a major setback in Roma’s title race with Inter. Their fans still remember the win and Behrami’s goal in the dying moments of the match.
Still, Roma is playing really poor and they will have a lot of problems against mobile formation of Delio Rossi. On the other hand, considering the recent performances of Roma’s defense, we wouldn’t be too surprised if they become an easy prey for great strikers of the Sky blues, Zarate, Pandev and Rocchi. Odds on the double chance on Lazio are too big and worth taking.

Our tip: Bet 7 on Double chance X2
Odds 1.52 at
Bookmaker: Gamebookers

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