We have all the pre-match preamble you need as Roma host Torino on Sunday (kick-off: 15:00 CET) in their final outing before the World Cup break.

TORINO

League position: 9th
Head coach: Ivan Juric
Serie A top scorer: Nikola Vlasic (four)

RECENT FORM

ROMA: W W W L D
TORINO: W W W L W

Jose Mourinho’s hosts drew with Sassuolo in midweek, a point that leaves them sat seventh with one game to go until the World Cup break.

Victory over Torino, though, could lift them into fourth-place and there is hope that top scorer Paulo Dybala - who has missed the Giallorossi’s last eight games but was named in Argentina’s squad for Qatar - may feature in some capacity.

The visitors from Turin have won three of their last four matches in Serie A and are six points back from their hosts as they head into the weekend in ninth.

They chalked up a 2-0 win at home to Sampdoria in the week, a game that saw club captain Ricardo Rodriguez start for the first time in a month but also resulted in fellow centre-back Perr Schuurs picking up an injury.

Possible Torino line-up

(3-4-2-1)

Milinkovic-Savic; Djidji, Buongiorno, Rodriguez; Singo, Lukic, Ricci, Lazaro; Miranchuk, Radonjic; Vlasic

LAST MEETING

DANGER MAN
Nikola Vlasic

Injury to Pietro Pellegri - the supposed heir to the throne Andrea Belotti left when he departed for the capital this summer - has robbed Torino of a focal point in attack.

Former Roma man Antonio Sanabria made it onto the bench in midweek and is working his way back to fitness, but it’s Vlasic who now has to lead the line.

The Croatia international did just that against La Samp, scoring his fourth goal of the campaign to help his side to victory.

He should again start in a central role at the Stadio Olimpico, with Aleksey Miranchuk and Nemanja Radonjic in support.

MATCH STATS

Roma have won 15 of their last 17 home Serie A fixtures against Torino and there has not been a draw between these two teams last draw at the Olimpico since March 1995.

It’s been five games since Roma last failed to score against Torino - they have won four of those five matches and kept clean sheets in each of the last two.

After going unbeaten in seven consecutive away matches between April and August (W5, D2), Torino have now lost four of their five away games in the top flight since September.

Roma have won on 67 occasions against Torino, meaning Il Toro are the club Roma have beaten the most times across the club’s long history.

PLAYER STATS

• After his goal against Sassuolo last time out, Tammy Abraham is looking to score in successive Serie A fixtures for the first time since last March.
  
• Dybala is Roma’s top scorer this season with seven goals in all competitions. Abraham and Lorenzo Pellegrini (four) are next on the list.
  
• Before his move to Roma, Belotti played 232 games and scored 100 goals in a Torino shirt in Serie A. He is the second highest scorer in Torino's history in the top tier of Italian football, behind just Paolo Pulici (134 goals).
  
• Pietro Pellegri scored his first Serie A goal against Roma on 28 May 2017 while a Genoa player and just 16 years and 72 days old. That makes him him the third youngest goalscorer in the competition's history, after Gianni Rivera (16 years and 68 days) and Amedeo Amadei (15 years and 287 days).

WHAT THEY SAID

“Beside the goal, which was obviously really important, [Abraham] showed the right attitude: he won some duels, he put his body on the line, he looked to run in behind, he dropped deep, he kept the ball and was a focal point for the attack. He had a good game."

- Mourinho after Abraham ended his barren goal run in midweek