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AS Roma travel to the Stadio Ezio Scida on Wednesday to face relegation-battling Crotone in Serie A, hoping to keep up their push for a top-four finish.
Paulo Fonseca's men are third in the standings after an impressive run so far. They have won nine times and lost only three of their 15 games.
They were thumped 3-0 on the opening day by Hellas Verona, suggesting that it was going to be another long 10 months for the Giallorossi. But the capital side have recovered well since then.
After starting the year with a 1-0 victory against Sampdoria, they have a chance to continue their fine run against a Crotone side that is languishing at the bottom of the standings.
With only two wins and nine points, Gli Squali have emerged as one of the favorites to go down this season. Their 6-2 thrashing at the hands of Inter Milan at the weekend reaffirmed that expectation.
Crotone vs AS Roma Head-To-Head
Owing to Crotone's limited Serie A record, the sides have only clashed four times, with Roma winning on all four occasions.
Their last meeting came during the 2017-18 season when the Giallorossi won by an aggregate score of 3-0, including a 2-0 victory in Crotone.
Crotone Form Guide (all competitions): W-D-L-W-L
AS Roma Form Guide (all competitions): W-W-L-W-W
Crotone vs AS Roma Team News
Crotone
The home side will be without midfielders Luca Cigarini and Ahmad Benali, both of whom are still recovering from calf injuries. Arkadiusz Reca is one booking away from suspension.
Injured: Luca Cigarini and Ahmad Benali
Suspended: None
Unavailable: None
AS Roma
The Rome outfit have plenty of casualties at the moment. Leonardo Spinazzola, Antonio Mirante, Pedro Rodriguez, Davide Santon, Riccardo Calafiori, and Federico Fazio all picked up injuries last month.
Nicolo Zaniolo is a long-term absentee, sidelined with a ligament rupture since April last year. Midfielder Bryan Cristante is on four yellow cards and risks a one-game suspension.
Injured: Leonardo Spinazzola, Antonio Mirante, Pedro Rodriguez, Davide Santon, Riccardo Calafiori, and Federico Fazio
Suspended: None
Unavailable: None
Crotone vs AS Roma Predicted XI
Crotone (3-5-2): Alex Cordaz; Vladimir Golemic, Luca Marrone, Sebastiano Luperto; Pedro Perreira, Salvatore Molina, Niccolo Zanellato, Eduardo Henrique, Arkadiusz Reca; Junior Messias, Emmanuel Riviere
AS Roma (3-4-2-1): Pau Lopez; Gianluca Mancini, Chris Smalling, Roger Ibanez; Rick Karsdorp, Gonzalo Villar, Jordan Veretout, Bruno Peres; Lorenzo Pellegrini, Henrikh Mkhitaryan; Edin Dzeko
Crotone vs AS Roma Prediction
Despite their struggles, Crotone scored twice against Inter in the first half at the weekend. The gulf in quality eventually showed in that match, but Crotone can cause trouble in periods.
We expect something similar here. Roma's porous defence is likely to concede a goal, but in-form stars Dzeko and Mkhitaryan will bail them out.
Prediction: Crotone 1-3 AS Roma
