5 Things we learned from Roma’s 2-1 win over Udinese

1. Roma leading the way in race for third

Roma's vital 2-1 win over relegation threatened Udinese puts them in pole position to seal the third and final Champions League qualification place in Serie A.

After crushing Fiorentina 4-1 last matchday, a win that saw them leapfrog Paulo Sousa's side, Roma's win at Udine held extra significance, especially after Fiorentina's shock draw against lowly Hellas Verona.

Now five points clear of both Fiorentina and Inter, the Giallorossi's clash with the latter next weekend looms as a terrific opportunity to tighten their hold on the coveted third position.

2. Roma are now winning even when not at their best

Even though Roma weren't at their absolute best against Stefano Colantuono's defensively minded side, they still did enough to secure a comfortable victory.

With Udinese content to sit deep and get 10 men behind the ball, this made life difficult at times for Roma to break them down. But the clever of movement of Edin Dzeko and Diego Perotti, in particular, successfully manipulated the Little Zebras' defensive shape to create space in the final third.

Moreover, the directness and dynamism Stephan El Shaarawy and Mohamed Salah provided out wide regularly stretched the opposing defence. The fact they were ably supported by full-backs Lucas Digne and Alessandro Florenzi only served to amplify this. Now having won eight league games in a row, Luciano Spalletti's men are showing they can pick up wins when not at their best and that's definitely a key hallmark of any quality team.

3. Zukanovic was brilliant again

In the absence of Antonio Rudiger, who'd been playing beautifully prior to his injury, Ervin Zukanovic continues to show why he's such a reliable back-up for the Roma defence. The Bosnian followed on from his tidy performance against Real Madrid in midweek to put in another quality shift alongside the exceptional Kostas Manolas.

Zukanovic, who's equally adept filling in at full-back, won a stirring four aerial duels, four tackles, and made a sizeable eight clearances as he and Manolas handled the threat of Cyril Thereau without too much fuss. In addition, his competency in possession saw him complete around 90% of his passes.

Without question, his January acquisition has turned out to be a very astute piece of business by the club.

4. Dzeko's encouraging performance

Even though things haven't always gone to plan for Edin Dzeko this season, there's no denying he's still a gifted forward. And against Udinese, he showed precisely why. Using his enviable set of attributes, the 29-year-old held the ball up superbly, linking up play slickly to instigate so many promising passages for his team.

His clever movement, to drag his marker out of position, regularly created space for the likes of El Shaarawy, Diego Perotti and Salah too, which they certainly benefitted from. Scoring a goal was the perfect reward for his fine body of work.

5. Szczesny proves his worth again

Despite not having a huge amount of work to get through, Wojciech Szczesny stepped up when called upon to make some crucial saves. The Arsenal loanee, who recently spoke of how happy he is at Roma, is certainly enhancing his reputation in the Italian capital.