With the Italian Super Cup taking place over the weekend, it's a quieter than normal week in Serie A, and on Saturday we have just two games taking place. The first to kick off is this one, where Roma, who have slipped to mid table, take on Verona, and it's the first time we've seen the home side without Jose Mourinho, after he was sacked this week.
Roma Form GuideIt's going to be interesting to see how Roma get on without Mourinho in charge, my gut feeling is we may see a little improvement from them, I certainly don't expect them to fall after his sacking. They come here in 9th position, they've got 29 points, which means they are four points off the top six and five off the top four, so it's not a complete disaster by any stretch.
But they have failed to win any of their last three Serie A games, and were knocked out of the Coppa Italia during that period too. League defeats to AC Milan and Juventus, coupled with a cup defeat to Lazio, the only recent positive has been a 1-1 home draw with Atalanta, a side they're competing against for the top six.
Verona Form GuideThe bottom of Serie A is incredibly tight, and I think we are going to have a fascinating second half of the season. Verona are in the relegation zone with 17 points, one place from safety, and there are four teams above them with all five teams being separated by just two points, so there is nothing in it.
They do come here on the back of a win, and it was a big one as they beat Empoli 2-1, a team who are down fighting with them in the relegation battle. Before that, they lost to league leaders Inter Milan, which was always going to be difficult, but then lost to Salernitana, the bottom club in the standings.
Match PredictionI am going to side with Roma to win this one. Not at their best, and with a new manager installed, there's questions over them, but I am going to stick with them to beat Verona, a side struggling at the bottom.
