The Warm-up: Giallorossi square up to in-form rivals

Maurizio Sarri's side have a 100% record so far in the league, enough to edge them to the top of the early standings. But the Giallorossi have also pushed on after a somewhat shaky start - can they cause an early momentum swing with a big home victory and continue their own rise?

The pre-match reading

• Eusebio Di Francesco's pre-match press conference in full
• P erotti fit and firing ahead of return
• S quad list: Karsdorp included for the first time
• View from the Opposition: The report on Napoli
• Numbers Game: Key stats to know about both sides

The form guide

Roma currently sit fifth in the early Serie A standings, albeit with a game in hand on all of their rivals. Eusebio Di Francesco's side are currently on a four-match winning streak - entering the international break after an invaluable 2-0 away win against AC Milan.

That continued a strong recent league run - with comfortable wins against Hellas Verona (3-0), Benevento (4-0) and Udinese (3-1).

Napoli, meanwhile, are a perfect seven from seven in the league so far - scoring at least three goals in each of those games.

There last outing was a 3-0 win at home to Cagliari, while prior to that they notched up away victories at SPAL (3-2) and Lazio (4-1). So they return to the Olimpico with plenty of positive recent memories to draw on...

Team news

The injury list still does not make great reading for Di Francesco, although there does appear to be some light at the end of the tunnel - with Lorenzo Pellegrini, Diego Perotti and Rick Karsdorp all available for Saturday's match.

The former duo are both in line to start, while Karsdorp is perhaps a bit further away from making his first appearance in club colours.

Elsewhere, Patrik Schick remains sidelined - as is midfielder Kevin Strootman and forwards Gregoire Defrel and Stephan El Shaarawy.

It is a completely different story for Napoli, with striker Arkadiusz Milik the only long-term absentee.

Defender Lorenzo Tonelli has also been left out of the group.

The view from both sides

Eusebio Di Francesco: “It will be a very important game regardless of how it finishes. It could establish Juventus’ challengers or at least give one of the two sides a confidence boost.

“Better players give you a greater insight into a coach’s work. [Maurizio] Sarri is doing an excellent job and he’s really developed as a coach over the last few years. He started out with a 4-4-2 and now he sets up with a 4-3-3 full of quality players.”

Dries Mertens: “Playing badly and winning? I’d sign up for that right away to win the Scudetto. It’s our football that got us here though, and it’s only by continuing on this road that we can dream of staying there. No alternatives or shortcuts, just playing well and entertaining our fans.

“Being top of the table isn’t a surprise, this year we started to out to win the league. There are a lot of opponents though... we’ve got closer, now we have to try and overcome the difference in talent between ourselves and the Bianconeri and others.”

Opposition danger man

DRIES MERTENS

Roma fans will need no reminding of what happened last time Napoli came to the Olimpico - as Mertens scored twice to clinch a 2-1 win and set up a tense finish to the campaign.

The Giallorossi may have won out in the end, but Mertens' intervention was no fluke - no player has scored more goals in Serie A in 2017 than the prolific Belgian (24).

Small in stature but giant in his movement, vision and eye for goal, Mertens' somewhat unorthodox attacking gifts, coupled with the support he gets from Jose Callejon and Lorenzo Insigne, make him an incredibly difficult player to silence.

Doing so will be pivotal if Roma are to emerge victorious.

Roma's one to watch

DIEGO PEROTTI

Coach Di Francesco may be correct in his assessment that the best defence will help their team emerge victorious on Saturday - but that still means the attack must take advantage at the other end. And in that regard, Diego Perotti will be vital to the Giallorossi.

Back to full fitness after sustaining a knock prior to the Champions League meeting with Qarabag, Perotti is almost guaranteed to be thrown straight back into the starting lineup - with both Stephan El Shaarawy and Gregoire Defrel unavailable for this one.

The winger has an almost unmatched ability to beat a player and create danger in the final third - a quality Roma will need to get the most out of against an opponent with a similar qualities.

Perotti, who has yet to get off the mark in the new campaign, should have every motivation to deliver a big performance.

"I think I’ve started well in terms of my performances," he noted. "I’m not happy about the fact that I haven’t scored any goals and missed a penalty on top of that. That really annoyed me.

"Physically I feel good – I did some training while on holiday before pre-season began and I think that’s done me the world of good."

Possible line-ups

Di Francesco is not exactly overflowing with options for this game, given the recent knocks sustained by El Shaarawy, Strootman and Defrel.

Lorenzo Pellegrini and Diego Perotti are likely to return to the starting line-up, while Alessandro Florenzi could well retain his place on the right-wing.

The biggest decision perhaps comes in defence, where both Juan Jesus and Federico Fazio have earned playing time alongside Kostas Manolas in the campaign so far.

Napoli's likely strongest line-up is not hard to predict, although it remains to be seen if Sarri decides some of his other players - Amadou Diawara, Piotr Zielinski - are in better form and fitness and deserve the nod.