Next Monday, 2nd of March 2015, the league leaders, Juventus, will measure forces with the title contenders AS Roma at the emblematic Stadio Olimpico in Rome for round 25 of the Italian Serie A. The Lupi are probably not going through the best of moments and their recent lack of wins have inflicted a huge blow to their title aspirations. Juventus, on the other hand, took advantage from Roma’s slip ups and cemented their position at the top of the table.

Four draws and one single win is AS Roma’s recent record at Serie A. Rudi Garcia’s boys seem to be losing their initial stamina and their recent poor streak of results on domestic competitions are definitely affecting the team. The elimination from Coppa Italia at the hands of Fiorentina has also created some fuss in the team from the Italian capital city and opened the door to another row of poor results, three consecutive draws, one of them against Parma in front of their supporters at Stadio Olimpico.

Last week, however, AS Roma’s win at Rotterdam against Feyenoord could become the catalyst they needed to get back on tracks. The Lupi sealed a solid 2-1 win and granted a place on the next stage of the UEFA Europa League but it wasn’t by any means an easy match, especially because of what had happened when the Dutch team visited Rome on the first leg match.

With nine points separating them from Juventus at the top of Serie A table, AS Roma cannot allow any more slipups and the upcoming clash against the Vecchia Signora is of the utmost importance to the team. If they lose, the Lupi will deliver the league title to Juve on a silver platter, but if they manage to win, they might renew their hopes of winning the league.

For that particular match, Rudi Garcia will not be able to rely on the contribution of Kevin Strootman, Castan, Balzaretti and Ibarbo, who are all currently sidelined due to injury.

As for Juventus, the current Serie A champions have everything in place to renew their title at the end of the current season and if they manage to overcome AS Roma next Monday, no one will surely prevent them from winning the scudetto once again.

After a complicated home win over Atalanta last weekend, the Vecchia Signora defeated Borussia Dortmund by 2-1 at home for the UEFA Champions League and increased even more their already high confidence levels.

There are no favourites for next Monday’s match, but given their recent form, Juventus enjoy from a slight favouritism for this clash of titans at Stadio Olimpico.

Roma

Stats: W-2 L-0 D-3

Recent Form - WDDDW

Juventus

Stats: W-3 L-0 D-2

Recent Form - WWDWD

Possible Line-ups

Roma (4-3-3) - De Sanctis - Torosidis - Mbiwa - Manolas - Holebas - De Rossi - Pjanic - Nainggolan - Gervinho - Totti - Ljajic

Juventus (4-3-1-2) - Buffon - Lichtsteiner - Bonucci - Chiellini  - Evra - Pogba - Pereyra - Marchisio - Vidal - Tevez - Morata

Prediction

Roma 1 Juventus 1