BOLOGNA VS AS ROMA PREVIEW & PREDICTION
As a result of the good results of the last few weeks, AS Roma has taken the third place firmly in its hands. The Romans hope to book their fourth victory in a row against Bologna.
Bologna:
Bologna is currently in eleventh place and that is probably also the position where the men of trainer Roberto Donadoni will end. The performance is not stable enough to aspire to a place in the subtop, while enough points are caught to stay out of trouble. It is striking that Bologna lost a match fifteen times this season, by far the highest number of the top eleven (number eight Sampdoria follows with ten defeats), but that does not seem to have any real consequences. Bologna is relatively unrelated and that is why Donadoni’s formation still has the top ten in sight. The hole with the left row is only two points. To make that step still, Bologna will have to make progress as only three of the last eleven matches have been converted into winnings. Bologna recently won from Sassuolo and Genoa, but from the three matches that followed, the men of Donadoni only scored one point and scored only once.
From SPAL and Atalanta Bergamo was lost with 0-1 and therefore the form in the last match did not seem to be there to compete against Lazio Roma. In Rome, however, Bologna was pretty good for the day. Simone Verdi opened the score after three minutes of football, but not long after that it was Lucas Leiva who managed to win the score again. It then remained. With the point, Bologna of course shoots little, but this tie was indeed a good result for the middle-engine. The question now is whether Bologna can again prevent a loss against a Roman team.
A setback this week is that Donadoni has to manage without grubbing up Antonio Mirante. The 34-year-old goalkeeper already collected his fifth yellow card of the season last week and that is what got him on a match suspension. The eight-year-old Antonio Santurro now has the chance to make his first minutes of the year.
AS Roma:
AS Roma is currently well under control. The Italians recently succeeded in getting a ticket for the quarterfinals of the Champions League by eliminating Shakhtar Donetsk and in the Serie A the victories are strung together. At the end of February, AS Roma lost 0-2 to AC Milan, but that was actually the only misstep of the last weeks. Of the last seven games, AS Roma won six and therefore the men of trainer Eusebio di Francesco appear to have a good chance to secure third place. The gap with number four Internazionale has even risen to four points. In recent weeks AS Roma worked in the Serie A on self-confidence. On visiting Napoli was surprisingly won with 2-4 and the subsequent duels with Torino and Crotone did not cause any problems.
Torino was swept 3-0 off the mat and in the away match against Crotone, AS Roma succeeded again to pull the longest. Stephan El Shaarawy had put the visitors on a 0-1 lead and after the break a goal from Radja Nainggolan was added. A regular victory and a victory that ensured that teams like Internazionale and Lazio Roma can not get any closer. AS Roma will now focus on defending third place as the second position seems to be too ambitious. The gap with Napoli has already grown to fourteen points.
Di Francesco can have a large group of players this week and therefore it can be said that AS Roma will kick-off at full strength. Rick Karsdorp is still on the sidelines due to his severe injury. The defender only played a match in the Romans shirt.
PREDICTION: AS Roma to win @ 1.64
