Lyon vs AS Roma preview

March 8, 2017
By: Nemanja Lazarevic

Arguably the most interesting tie in the Europa League Round of 16 sees resurgent Lyon take on Serie A high-flyers AS Roma.

Both sides harbour title ambitions in Europe’s second rate competition as they may not be able to secure Champions League qualification through league finish.

It is now clear that Lyon will finish outside of Ligue 1 top 3 having failed to keep up with the likes of Monaco, PSG and Nice, but they still have time to turn the season into a success.

Les Gones have shown a great deal of promise this term and somehow managed to keep hold of all key men, while reinforcing their ranks with Man Utd flop Memphis Depay.

Chances are that Alexandre Lacazette and possibly Corentin Tolisso will leave for greener pastures at the end of the season, but they will surely want to give their best before the end of the season.

Lyon have been playing well of late, winning four straight matches and scoring 20 goals in the process before they were held to a 1-1 draw by Bordeaux at the weekend.

Les Gones can now be backed at 2.50 (3/2) to see off AS Roma, and there are no doubts this is a good time to be facing the Giallorossi.

The hosts will be able to count on Nabil Fekir, who has recovered from a minor knock, whereas Mathieu Valbuena should be recalled.

Probable starting line-up (4-2-3-1): Lopes – Rafael, Mammana, Diakhaby, Morel – Tousart, Tolisso – Ghezzal, Fekir, Valbuena – Lacazette.

AS Roma have been pretty impressive ever since Luciano Spalletti took over the reigns, and up until a couple weeks ago, they were doing really well in all the competitions entered.

However, a serious slump in form saw them lose three of their last four matches, with back to back defeats to Lazio and Napoli acting as serious blows to their title hopes in Coppa Italia and Serie A.

The Giallorossi now need to try and return to winning ways as quickly as possible and a good result at Parc OL would definitely be an important step towards an eventual Europa League trophy.

AS Roma will have to improve at the back having conceded some cheap goals of late, and they will have to find a way to stop the likes of Lacazette, Fekir and Valbuena.

They will have to do so without Antonio Rudiger as the German is banned, whereas Clement Grenier is ineligible to face his parent club and Alessandro Florenzi is out injured.

Probable starting line-up (4-2-3-1): Szczesny – Peres, Manolas, Fazio, Juan Jesus – Strootman, De Rossi – Salah, Nainggolan, El Shaarawy – Dzeko.

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