Bologna v Roma: Probable Formations

Roma continues its busy schedule on Sunday, when it makes its first road trip of the season to Bologna. It’s a quick turnaround from Thursday’s Europa League victory over İstanbul Başakşehir at the Olimpico. Luckily for the Giallorossi, they seem to have escaped unscathed on the injury front.

With that in mind, Fonseca will again be without Cengiz Ünder, Diego Perotti, and Davide Zappacosta. That would make the injured list one player shorter with Chris Smalling expected to be available. He will likely start the match from the bench though.

The line-up in this one will look very similar to Sunday’s XI that beat Sassuolo. Pau Lopez will start in goal and in front of him is expected to be the same back line. That defense will feature Federico Fazio and Gianluca Mancini in the center. Flanking them will be Alessandro Florenzi and Aleksandar Kolarov at full back.

After being rested in favor of Amadou Diawara in the Europa League, Jordan Veretout is expected to return to the double pivot on Sunday. Veretout was pivotal in breaking up play in front of the defense and will be expected to do the same against a dangerous Bologna side. He will be partnered with Bryan Cristante, who has started all of Roma’s matches so far.

After a man of the match performance on Sunday, Lorenzo Pellegrini will return to the trequartista position. To his left will be Henrikh Mkhitaryan, who will look to follow up his debut goal with another strong performance. Leading the line will be Edin Dzeko, who has opened the season with his goal scoring boots.

That leaves one position in question. Fonseca will have a big decision to make on the right side of attack. Justin Kluivert has scored in consecutive matches, while Nicoló Zaniolo had a man of the match performance against İstanbul Başakşehir with a goal and two assists. Fonseca will have to decide which youngster gets the nod against Bologna. Currently, Gazetta dello Sport and Corriere dello Sport have the Italian favored at 60/40. Either way, we should see both at some point in the match.

Gazzetta dello Sport