TORINO

League position: 17th
Head coach: Davide Nicola
Serie A top-scorer: Andrea Belotti (12)

RECENT FORM

Torino: L W L D W
Roma: L D W W D

Il Toro have lost just one of their last four to open up a five-point gap to the relegation places, with a game in hand over the three teams below them in the league.

Miracle man Nicola has been the driving force behind Torino’s turnaround, as they average 1.27 points per game from his 11 matches in charge. That is the 10th best in the division since he took over 11 games ago and a big improvement on the 0.72 points per game prior to his arrival.

The Giallorossi are also enjoying an uptick in form, with their superb quarter-final win over Ajax sandwiching their 1-0 victory at Bologna last time out in the league.

Roma are looking to make it three Serie A matches without defeat for the first time since January, and Paulo Fonseca’s side will be hoping victory can take them back into the top-six.

LAST MEETING

DANGER MAN
Andrea Belotti

Having gone six Serie A games without a goal, Belotti was back on the scoresheet with a crucial match-winner in the 1-0 victory over Udinese last time out.

The Torino captain is perennially linked with a move away from Turin and it’s easy to see why when he has still struck 12 times in a struggling Granata outfit this season.

Belotti also has a fine record against the Giallorossi having scored six times against Roma in the Italian top flight.

That included the 27-year-old scoring three from his last three when taking on this weekend’s visitors, although five of his six efforts have come at the Olimpico.

MATCH STATS

Torino have drawn eight out of 14 matches on home soil this term, the joint-most across Europe’s top-five leagues this season.

No side has drawn nine or more Serie A games as hosts since Perugia chalked up 10 in 2003-04 and Torino have picked up just one win at the Olimpico Grande Torino in 2020-21.

Meanwhile, Roma have collected all three points on each of their last three visits and are going in search of a fourth away win over Torino for the first time in their history.

The Giallorossi are well placed to do so having won seven of their last eight against the Turin outfit and Roma have scored at least three goals in five of those eight meetings.

PLAYER STATS

• Edin Dzeko and Borja Mayoral have both scored seven Serie A goals this season, with the Bosnian playing 259 minutes more than the Spaniard.
  
• Enrique Guaita and Pedro Waldemar Manfredini are this fixture’s highest scorers with nine goals for Roma across league meetings between the two teams.
  
• Lorenzo Pellegrini picked up his 10th yellow card of the season in the win over Bologna, meaning he will miss a Serie A match for only the second time this term.
  
• Antonio Sanabria represented Roma twice in 2014-15 and has scored four goals in six matches since joining Torino in January.

WHAT THEY SAID

“We’re not done yet [with the relegation fight], because our situation still doesn’t leave us satisfied.”

- Torino coach Davide Nicola after their 1-0 win over Udinese