Roma vs Torino
Stadio Olimpico sets the stage for a high-stakes Serie A encounter between Roma and Torino.
Things are going from bad to worse for new Roma boss Ivan Juric as a 5-1 rout at the hands of Fiorentina last weekend condemned his side to a third consecutive winless league outing (D1, L2), leaving them stranded in the lower reaches. With Torino rolling into town, Juric’s future is on the line as he bids to defy his underwhelming managerial record against this opposition (W2, D4, L2) and salvage his job. With Roma languishing closer to the drop zone than the top six, anything other than three points against a Torino side they’ve lost to only once in the last nine meetings (W6, D2) could prove detrimental to Juric’s hopes of weathering this storm.
Juric’s successor at Torino, Paolo Vanoli, heads into proceedings with renewed optimism after a narrow 1-0 win against Como last weekend halted his side’s dreadful three-game losing run in Serie A. However, after overseeing a three-game unbeaten away league streak at the start of his tenure (W2, D1), Vanoli has slumped to back-to-back 3-2 defeats on the road, with Inter Milan and Cagliari getting the better of Torino. Interestingly, that same scoreline saw the Granata lose on this ground last season. High scoring has been a common theme in Torino’s away Serie A matches this season, with four out of five seeing both teams score at least twice, highlighting the potential for an action-packed contest.