Probable Formations: Juventus vs Roma

The big doubt for the Giallorossi remains Tammy Abraham’s status heading into tomorrow’s big match at the Allianz Arena.

By ssciavillo@ssciavilloCdT Oct 17, 2021, 12:00am CEST

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AS Roma v CSKA Sofia - UEFA Conference League

Roma heads to Turin tomorrow with the opportunity to make a statement in the early stages of José Mourinho’s tenure. The Giallorossi enter the match sitting fourth on the table with the opportunity to jump into third place with a victory given Inter’s loss today, while pulling seven ahead of the Bianconeri in the process.

In order to do that you’d have to imagine that the Giallorossi need to be at their absolute best. That usually entails fielding your best XI in matches like this one. However, thanks to Tammy Abraham picking up an ankle injury while playing for England over the international break, Roma will likely be missing one of its key offensive weapons from the start.

Mourinho gave an update on Abraham in his pre-match presser.

“We’ll see tomorrow if Tammy plays or not. He did not train much today, not very much at all, but he will be travelling with the group.

“Tomorrow we will have to decide whether he can play, whether he can be on the bench, or if he will be in the stands. But he’s getting better day-by-day. Let’s see tomorrow”

With the report that Mourinho gave, it seems most likely that Abraham starts on the bench. So, we’ll tip Eldor Shomurodov to start at striker. However, crazier things have happened than Abraham giving it a go considering the opponent.

Playing in support of Shomurodov will be the trio of Henrikh Mkhitaryan, Lorenzo Pellegrini, and Nicoló Zaniolo. And the midfield double pivot will be constituted of Bryan Cristante and Jordan Veretout.

The one other question mark heading into this one was who would play left-back considering Matías Viña played on Thursday for Uruguay. Mourinho though seemed to make it clear that the South American will be ready to start when asked about his status by saying “There’s no doubt there, he’s fine.”

Opposite of Viña will be Rick Karsdorp. Meanwhile, with Chris Smalling out injured it’ll be the duo of Roger Ibañez and Gianluca Mancini in defense. And between the sticks will be Rui Patricio.