Roma play their final home game of the season on Sunday evening, as they host Fiorentina.
Having won nine, drawn four and lost five of their other home league games this season, another victory would ensure Roma have won twice as many games at Stadio Olimpico than they have lost in 2019-20.
Paulo Fonseca’s side also have the chance to match their best unbeaten run in the league this season. Previously, between the end of September and start of November, they went six games without defeat in Serie A, within an eight-game unbeaten run in all competitions. Roma are currently five games unbeaten in the league.
After their rivals for fifth place, AC Milan, dropped points to Atalanta, Roma have a chance to gain a stronghold on that position ahead of their final two games of the season. There’s still plenty to play for, so the aim is to get as many points on the board as possible.
Fonseca gave little away about his team selection in his pre-match press conference. The Roma boss suggested that Aleksandar Kolarov and Bruno Peres could both still play, despite featuring heavily recently – with the latter in particularly good form.
Fonseca also was coy on the idea of giving a first start in six months to Nicolo Zaniolo, who has so far only featured from the bench since his return from injury. The Italian starlet has scored twice in those games, both coming away from home. In fact, if he were to score against Fiorentina, it would be his first goal at home in 2020.
Embed from Getty ImagesZaniolo was the final scorer when the two sides met earlier in the season, in Roma’s last game of 2019. That was a comprehensive 4-1 win, in which Edin Dzeko, Kolarov and Lorenzo Pellegrini also netted.
Fiorentina have a new coach since then. Ex-Roma forward Vincenzo Montella was dismissed and replaced by Giuseppe Iachini. The current Viola boss has only ever beaten the Giallorossi twice in 11 attempts as a manager.
Sunday’s match will see the debut of Roma’s new home shirt for next season. The strip was unveiled this week, and it will now be seen in action.
The game kicks off at 6:30pm UK time and will be available to watch live on Free Sports.
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