Cagliari vs Roma - Will the Rossoblu put a stop to Roma's good moment?

Next Sunday, Roma will travel to the beautiful Island of Sardinia to measure forces with Cagliari at Stadio Sant’Elia for round 32 of the Italian Serie A. Roma are certainly enjoying one of their best seasons since 2000-01, the year they were coronated champions by the hand of Fabio Capello.

Roma’s French manager Rudi Garcia brought new ideas and a fresh mentality to the capital city’s side this season. The Lupi have the best defence line of Serie A with only seventeen goals conceded so far and they are the second best when it comes to scoring goals (62 so far) right after the league leaders, Juventus.

Last Wednesday, Roma entertained a very organized Parma side at Stadio Olimpico and they grabbed an important 4-2 win, with goals from Totti, Tadei, Gervinho, and the Bosnian playmaker Pjanic, against one of the most complicated Serie A sides. Led by their captain, Francesco Totti, the Lupi controlled the match and produced once again a very interesting performance, thus stopping Roberto Donadoni’s side from putting into practice their quick counter-attacking style of play.

For next Sunday’s match, Rudi Garcia will not be able to count on the Dutch midfielder Kevin Strootman and the Italian defender Federico Balzaretti, both still recovering from their respective injuries.

The home side of Cagliari are certainly not currently enjoying their best moment in the season. The islanders have only managed to win one of their last five matches and they are just seven points above the relegation line. The team’s former player and current head coach, the Uruguayan Diego López, is worried with the team’s inability to convert chances and points, which was, in fact, the main culprit behind his side’s recent defeats, especially the last one against Torino on the past Sunday.

When both teams met back in November, Cagliari obtained an important goalless draw and forced the home side to their third draw in a row. Roma still hadn’t been defeated back then but the capital city side was already accusing the weight of responsibility caused by that particular fact. Next Sunday, however, things could be different, as Roma are a clearly stronger side than their opponents by now.

Cagliari

W-7 L-13 D-11

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Roma

W-11 L-13 D-7

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Possible Line-ups

Cagliari (4-4-2) - Avramov - Avelar - Astori - Pisano - Rossettini - Ekdal - Conti - Eriksson - Cabrera - Ibraimi - Nenê

Roma (4-3-3) - De Sanctis - Maicon - Torosidis - Castan - Benatia - De Rossi - Pjanic - Tadei - Totti - Gervinho - Destro

Prediction: Cagliari 0 Roma 2