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Roma's hellish cycle of games begins with away one against Inter

In the next two weeks Roma are up for championship matches against Inter and Napoli, city derby against Lazio in the cup, and an away one against Lyon in Europe

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In the last ten rounds Inter recorded nine wins, and the only championship defeat came from the leaders Juventus in a recent Torino derby. After the derby Pioli couldn't use the suspended captain and best scorer Icardi in matches against Empoli and Bologna, but those matches proved that Inter has bench quality as well. Against Empoli key was player Eder, and Gabigol recorded his first goal in the final of the match against Bologna.

Inter beat Roma at San Siro in the last two matches, and Pioli wants to continue that run:

- The match against Roma is not a direct clash since we're not at the same point count. We're heading forward and we know that matches like this are worth somewhat more. Icardi is a top player, he has the will and he's very determined. Next to all the goals he records, we're talking about a determined player who moves a lot and creates a lot of space. He's our captain and he'll be leading the team against Roma.

Inter's main goalgetter Icardi is done with the suspension, and midfielder Brozovic recovered from injury, so Pioli will only be missing the suspended stopper Miranda. Pioli should use the 3-4-2-1 formation with defensive midfielder Medela in the center of the defense. It's questionable how ready Brozovic will be so in the center of the midfield we can expect Kondogia and Gagliardini from the first minute.

On Thrusday Roma were defeated by Villareal, but it was a match in which Spaletti's team didn't rush too much and didn't have a great wish to win since they solved the passing into the round of 16 of Europa League. Spalletti rested Dzeka, Salah and most of the other key first-team players because Roma are up for hellish two weeks in which they're playing against Inter and Napoli in the championship, city rivals Lazio in the Cup, and Lyon in Europa League.

Spalletti announced the first match of the hellish cycle:

- An important period begins. When we look at all the games, we see they're very complicated, but we're thinking from one match to the other. That's the right way to do it. Each of the upcoming games is key, we can't think some will be easier than others. Inter are a strong team who found their balance. Pioli is very good and capable, he knows how to speak about tactics, and he changed some things in the team. We're ready to head against a team who are on a winning run. We can't only pay attention to Perisic and Candreva, this will be a duel between everyone. Dzeko or Icardi? I'd keep Edino.

Only the longer absent defender Florenzi will miss the match due to injury struggles, and Spalletti should send out the strongest starting 11 from the first minute since he rested a lot of first-team players against Villarreal. Roma will play in the 3-4-2-1 formation, and it's only questionable who will play in the defense. Rudiger, Fazio, Manolas and Juan Jesus are all equally competing for the three positions.