LECCE

League position: 13th
Head coach: Marco Baroni
Serie A top scorer: Gabriel Strefezza (three)

RECENT FORM

ROMA: W W L W L
LECCE: D L D W D

Europa League defeat to Real Betis in midweek took the shine off Roma’s excellent victory over Inter Milan last time out in Serie A, but all is far from lost for Jose Mourinho’s outfit.

They remain only four points off top spot and victory could reduce the deficit to one if they can chalk up a sixth top flight victory of the season by beating Lecce on Sunday.

The visitors, meanwhile, have just one win out of eight and sit 13th and a Giallorossi victory could send them into the relegation zone.

Lecce are unbeaten in three, however, and collected all three points on their last away trip - a 2-1 win over Salernitana.

Possible Lecce line-up

(4-3-3)

Falcone; Gendrey, Baschirotto, Pongracic, Pezzella; Askildsen, Hjulmand, Gonzalez; Strefezza, Ceesay, Banda

LAST MEETING

DANGER MAN
Gabriel Strefezza

The 25-year-old Brazilian’s importance for Lecce in attack cannot be underestimated.

Not only is he their top-scorer with three goals, but Strefezza league strikes have earned crucial points for his side.

A first of the season helped his team come from 1-0 down to earn a 1-1 draw with Empoli on Matchday 3, while he returned from injury to hit the winner as Lecce chalked up a first victory of the campaign against Salernitana.

His strike last time out, again with his side trailing 1-0, sealed another 1-1 draw for his team, meaning Strefezza’s three efforts have delivered five of their seven points thus far.

MATCH STATS

Roma have won eight of their last nine Serie A meetings against Lecce and average 2.4 goals per game against this weekend’s visitors to the Olimpico.

Meanwhile, the Giallorossi have lost only one of their last 11 league matches at the Olimpico (W6, D4) and, despite that victory coming last time out against Atalanta, they haven’t ost two successive home league games at home since January 2020.

With four out of their 10 Serie A goals coming from headers, Roma’s 40% return is the third-most across Europe’s big-five leagues.

After eight league games of the season, Lecce’s four draws are the club’s most at this stage of a top-flight campaign across their entire history.

PLAYER STATS

• Lecce are the only side which Paulo Dybala has faced more than once and scored every time in Serie A (two goals in two appearances).
  
• No player in the division has scored more headed goals than Chris Smalling (two) so far this season.
  
• On average, Bryan Cristante runs 11.44 kilometres per game, the fifth-most in the top flight.
  
• Strefezza has scored in each of his last two league games and the last Lecce player to find the net in at least three Serie A outings in succession before turning 26 was Luis Muriel, back in 2012.

WHAT THEY SAID

“Going to play at the Olimpico against Roma, especially with the stadium full, is certainly a great setting… I was born a Romanista so, between Roma and Lazio, I picked Roma, also because my whole family are Romanisti.”

- Lecce goalkeeper Wladimiro Falcone, who grew up as a Roma fan