Big Test of Parma’s Credentials
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Football fans of a certain age will remember the great Parma teams of the past. Players including Gianluigi Buffon, Fabio Cannavaro, Lilian Thuram, Gianfranco Zola, Juan Sebastian Veron and Hernan Crespo all played for the club.
The players of today do not match the glamour of the names above but Parma are back in the big time and this weekend they host Lazio at the Stadio Ennio Tardini.
Lazio are hoping to mount a bid for a Champions League place this season. While the title may be out of reach, the fans would love to have Champions league nights back at the Stadio Olimpico.
Parma have made an excellent start to the season and begin the weekend sitting in 9th place in Serie A. Having found life difficult at the beginning of the campaign, Parma turned their season around when they defeated Inter Milan 1-0 in the San Siro.
Since that great win, Parma have won three of their four Serie A matches. There have been wins away to Genoa and at home against Cagliari and Empoli. The only defeat in Parma’s last six league games came at Napoli.
Parma have won four of their last five Serie A games and trends show they have been tough to beat at home. They have lost one of their four home league games which was against defending champions Juventus. Parma have scored in each of their four home games this season.
Lazio returned to winning ways prior to the international break with a 1-0 home win against Fiorentina. Having tasted defeat to Roma 3-1 in the Rome derby and then suffered a big loss at Eintracht Frankfurt in the Europa League, it was important Lazio defeated Fiorentina on home soil.
However, having lost to Napoli and Juventus in their opening two games of the season, trends show Lazio have won five of their last six Serie A matches. There have been wins at home against Frosinone, Genoa and Fiorentina plus away victories at Empoli and Udinese.
Lazio have scored in each of their last three away league games and trends show they are undefeated against Parma in their last six Serie A meetings.
Looking ahead to the team news and Parma are without the injured quartet of Federico Dimarco, Gianni Munari, Matteo Scozzarella and Jacopo Dezi. Emanuele Calaio is suspended and there are doubts over Gervinho and Alberto Grassi.
Lazio travel without the injured Riza Durmisi but he is the only player unavailable for Simone Inzaghi’s team. Ciro Immobile will play up-front with support from Sergej Milinkovic-Savic and Luis Alberto.
Parma are in good form but this is set to be one of their toughest home games of the season. Lazio returned to winning ways last time out and with a fully fit squad available, could come away with all 3 points.
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