Luciano Spalletti's pre-Bologna press conference in full

Luciano Spalletti met with the media on Saturday for his usual pre-match press conference ahead of Sunday's visit of Bologna to the Olimpico.

Read on to find out what the boss had to say...

As usual, the coach began with an update on the fitness - or otherwise - of his squad.

“I'll try to give you a recap of our injury situation. [Abdullahi] Nura is training with the Primavera and Mario Rui will join them next week, three months after his operation. [Francesco] Totti is still training separately and [Kostas] Manolas will train alone today but join up with the rest of the squad again next week. Emerson [Palmieri] is following a personalised programme and we hope to have him fit in time for our trip to Atalanta. [Moustapha] Seck will rejoin the main group today and we'll have a look at him.

"[Federico] Fazio is also going to train with us today but we need to see how he copes with it. [Leandro] Paredes had tests this morning and he doesn't seem to have anything serious; he's just taken a knock to the knee. He'll train with us and we'll see how he does after resting yesterday. As for [Thomas] Vermaelen, surgery is not an option we're considering at the moment. He doesn't need any specialist consultation and he hasn't had any. He's improving his strength and the pain is manageable. Groin problems can take time and it's hard to put a timescale on things with the inflammation he's got. I think he could be back in a couple of weeks depending on how he progresses – somewhere between two and five weeks. I think we're close to solving the problem because he seems to be responding well.”

What's your view of Bologna? They always seem to try and play their own game, even against tough opposition.

“That's exactly right. They lost their last game but they were playing a man light and still managed to perform very well. [Roberto] Donadoni is very professional and he instils that mentality in the teams he coaches. Bologna are a very well-run club: they're always there beside the players and they set the team's tempo.

"It will be a tough game, as they all are, but we believe we can continue on this upwards curve we're on and produce a good performance despite having a few problems to contend with.”

Antonio Rudiger seems to be in good form but is he up to playing a third game in a week?

“I think that's something we need to consider. When a player comes back from an injury like the one he had it can be a bit risky to have him play three or four games in a row. We'll need to speak to the lad, weigh everything up and then decide what the right thing to do is. He had a serious injury so we need to be careful with him.”

Has Fazio got more chance of playing than Rudiger?

“If Fazio is fit he'll play but you always need to consider what happens during the 90 minutes. We should have a better idea after training today: a lot of it comes down to how they feel.”

The Stadio Olimpico has seen an average of 3.4 goals per game this season. How do you explain such a high figure?

“I actually think it's come about quite by chance. I've seen us win home games where we've struggled for 80 minutes then found the breakthrough and put it to bed in the last ten minutes. There have been other games away from home where we haven't got the win or we've lost. We always feel more relaxed and comfortable at home but as I've said recently I think the team has come on a lot. It's quite tangible. The players seem to have a stronger bond with the club and our colours. You can see something has changed.

"People often look at the 'flowers' on display during a match but you need to look at the roots and ours are strong. It's the small details that tell you that, like Edin [Dzeko] picking up the ball after scoring and carrying it back to the centre spot, or our players rushing to take a throw-in in the 90th minute at Empoli because they wanted to win the game.”

How's Radja Nainggolan doing?

“I think he's the Nainggolan we want now. Besides the goals he's scored recently, he's been doing both the jobs I've asked him to do. His starting position is in the hole but he drops back into a defensive midfield role when our opponents have the ball. He harries the opposition and makes it hard for them to start moves. He had a couple of games when he played below his usual level but he's in good shape again now. He looks like the fighter we all want to see.

"He's showing his warrior spirit again – something he can instil in others and something we should all learn from.”

Can [Stephan] El Shaarawy, Dzeko, [Mohamed] Salah and [Diego] Perotti all play together?

“They can. It does, however, depend on a number of factors. In the last few matches, Emerson has shown that he’s made progress, that he belongs at Roma, which gives any player a lift. What I mean by that is we have a reliable defence because the players in our squad are good enough for this level. Therefore we don’t have any issues in playing our football and showing what we can do. If you push too far forward though you can end up losing balance.

"That’s something we could do tomorrow against a strong side. Given that we’re missing Totti, we don’t have a lot of alternatives and therefore starting all of them could prevent us from making a substitution that could change the game.”

People have claimed that the opposition often lack motivation against Juventus. Is that the case or are Massimiliano Allegri’s side too good?

“I don’t have sufficient information to work out what’s going on at Juventus. I’m focused solely on our task at hand and I know we’re not helped by anything or anyone. In the last game we faced Empoli where one of our goalkeepers [Lukasz Skorupski] kept everything out. I believe every match we play is full of difficulties. I can’t say any more because I’m not party to the situation at Juventus.”

Roma’s last powerful long-range goal came away at Carpi. It looks like you’re not resorting to that very often...

“We have that in our locker though. Paredes hasn’t managed it yet and he’s probably got the most powerful shot of anyone in our squad. He tried it once but he’s not relaxed enough yet. You can tell he’s looking for it too often and is not able to show what he can do. [Daniele] De Rossi can hit them from distance, so too can Perotti and Emerson. Nainggolan has a very powerful strike on him and it’s all a bit random.

"We’ve tried shooting from even further out and perhaps seeing that our build-up play works and trusting that more means we tend to kill moves off a bit later. We go all the way and it’s always results that count. These are options we have to consider though because when defences are packed it’s a way to solve the problem.”