Probable Formations: Roma vs Salernitana

Lost in the chaotic aftermath of the 2-1 loss to Bodø/Glimt up in Norway on Thursday was the fact that both Gianluca Mancini and Tammy Abraham came away from the match with knocks that could keep them out of Sunday’s fixture against Salernitana. With this match sandwiched between the home-and-home quarterfinal with Bodø and Napoli and Inter on the road following that, there isn’t much opportunity to change the formula that has seen the Giallorossi achieve ten straight positive results in league play, so José Mourinho was always like to make some minor tweaks to his lineup against Salernitana—injuries or not.

However, with the (luckily not too serious) knocks suffered on the Norwegian artificial turf, Mourinho may be forced to rotate rather than choose to do so. As of the time of writing this, Mourinho hadn’t given updates on the status of either player, but Mancini seems unlikely to feature after being forced off in the 69th minute at Bodø. Meanwhile, Abraham, who has been a mainstay match in and match out, may still start. However, Eldor Shomorudov could get a rare start to provide Tammy rest before Bodø on Thursday. Lorenzo Pellegrini will also miss this match due to yellow card accumulation.

Meanwhile, Leonardo Spinazzola is expected to be part of the matchday squad for the first time all season after resuming full training since his Achilles injury suffered during Euro 2020(1). Jordan Veretout and Nicolo Zaniolo are expected to start after missing the last two matches, while Ainsley Maitland-Niles and Stephan El Shaarawy could spell Nicola Zalewski and Rick Karsdorp at the wingback spots.

Probable Formations

ROMA (3-4-2-1): Patricio; Ibañez, Smalling, Kumbulla; El Shaarawy, Cristante, Mkhitaryan, Maitland-Niles; Zaniolo, Veretout; Shomorudov