The opening round of Matchday 25 in Italian Serie A sees underperforming Lazio play host to bottom-placed Hellas Verona.

With both sides struggling to meet pre-season expectations, we should see a nervy affair at Stadio Olimpico, where three points could mean a lot to either of the teams.

Lazio enjoyed a breakthrough season last term as they managed to achieve a top 3 finish, but the club have clearly failed to build on the success.

The Biancocelesti have experienced all sorts of problems this term, and even European qualification now seems a distant possibility.

Poor attacking performances have proved to be the biggest issue this season, with Lazio failing to score a single goal in four of last five matches in all competitions.

Nevertheless, the Biancocelesti will see the home game against Serie A rock bottom side as a perfect opportunity to end the barren run, and they are 1.53 (8/15) favourites to claim maximum points.

There have been some good news for coach Stefano Pioli as both Antonio Candreva and Ricardo Kishna recovered from injury, while Lucas Biglia could be back to the side as well.

Meanwhile, Marco Parolo is banned, whilst defenders Dusan Basta, Milan Bisevac, Stefan de Vrij and Stefan Radu are all injured.

Probable starting line-up (4-3-3): Marchetti – Konko, Mauricio, Hoedt, Lulic – Milinkovic-Savic, Biglia, Cataldi – Candreva, Matri, Keita.

Nobody knows what has happened to the team that challenged for European positions just a couple of years back, as they now sit at the bottom of the Serie A standings.

After impressing in last two campaigns, Luca Toni appears to be finally past his prime and his goals have been sorely missed this season.

Following the shocking start to the new season, Verona have shown some improvement under Luigi Delneri, but the problem is they still sit nine points behind safety.

The Gialloblu are unbeaten in last five league fixtures, while finally recording the first triumph of the campaign a week ago, and they now hope to extend the good run at Stadio Olimpico.

The problem is that Luca Marrone, who set up all three goals in the 3-3 draw with Inter Milan, is suspended for this game.

At the same time, Ante Rebic, Federico Viviani, Luca Sigilardi and Samuel Souprayen are all unavailable through injury.

Probable starting line-up (4-4-2): Gollini – Pisano, Moras, Helander, Albertazzi – Wszolek, Greco, Ionita, Fares – Toni, Pazzini.