The injury crisis at Trigoria is finally starting to abate—the Giallorossi received some good news over the international break as Lorenzo Pellegrini and Henrikh Mkhitaryan returned to first team training after long injury layoffs. Additionally, the muscle issue of Gianluca Mancini was confirmed to be nothing serious. With that, the only confirmed absences are Leonardo Spinazzola, Davide Zappacosta, Nikola Kalinic, and Bryan Cristante.

This is the healthiest Roma has been in well over a month, giving Fonseca plenty of options moving forward. As for Sunday, neither Pellegrini nor Mkhitaryan is expected to start after their long layoffs, but they do give the manager more attacking options off the bench. Something he’s been very short of in recent matches.

The starting XI isn’t expected to change much from the side that lost in Parma before the international break. Despite a solid showing at right back for Italy and Spinazzola ailing, Alessandro Florenzi may again miss out again on Fonseca’s XI. Corriere dello Sport projects the Roman to start while Gazzetta dello Sport favors Davide Santon at 60/40 in their latest projections.

Meanwhile, as long as he’s fit enough to go from the opening whistle, Mancini is expected to start. CdS has him starting ahead of Amadou Diawara in the holding midfield position. Conversely, GdS sees him starting in defense with Diawara flanking Veretout in midfield. Additionally, Justin Kluivert looks to have an edge over Cengiz Ünder to start on the left wing. If CdS is in fact the correct, the only change from the Parma match will be at right back.

Possible Line-Ups

Corriere dello Sport

ROMA (4-1-4-1): Pau Lopez; Florenzi, Smalling, Fazio, Kolarov; Mancini; Zaniolo, Pastore, Veretout, Kluivert; Dzeko.

Gazzetta dello Sport

ROMA (4-2-3-1): Pau Lopez; Santon, Smalling, Mancini, Kolarov; Veretout, Diawara; Zaniolo, Pastore, Kluivert; Dzeko.