Ambitious Italian side Palermo continue to keep their dreams intact despite enduring a roller-coaster season that has seen them have spells of high and spells of dry. At the moment the Sicilians are in robust health as they are very much within touching distance of a European place.
Last weekend's narrow 2-1 defeat of Cesena on the road was Palermo's second in a row in the league and third in four matches and stationed them on 20 points from 13 matches, level with Italian and European champions Inter, who are sixth, and just three points behind fourth-placed Juventus.
Palermo's home form too has improved and they will be confident of giving it a go against in-form Roma at the Stadio Renzo Barbera. However, the Rosanero haven't fared very well against Serie A's big boys so far this campaign as they lost to Inter, Lazio and Milan but won against Juventus. Yet with Javier Pastore and Josip Ilicic in defiant form and Fabrizio Miccoli back from injury and scoring the goals, Delio Rossi's side will have all the confidence in the world to register a win on Sunday afternoon.
Living Life In Thrilling Style
Over the past four or five seasons Roma have been arguably the most entertaining Italian side to watch and on Tuesday evening they exhibited once again just why. 2-0 down to Bayern Munich at the Stadio Olimpico in the Champions League, Claudio Ranieri's scored thrice in the space of ? minutes to register arguably the best victory in Europe this season.
The win was their second in a row in Europe's premier club competition and also extended the Lupi's unbeaten run in all competitions to five matches. Last weekend Roma overcame Udinese 2-0 in Rome to rise up to fifth in the league with 22 points 13 matches, just a point off a Champions League place and seven behind league leaders Milan. Talks of a Scudetto challenge are beginning to become louder as Roma continue to play entertaining football and get the results too.
Winning against Palermo in Sicily on Sunday night, though, is not going to be very easy as Roma have a less than impressive record on the road in the league. The Giallorossi have won just once in six attempts away from Rome and have conceded a whooping ten goals.
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Palermo
Liverani, Hernandez, Pinilla and Darmian are injured and will miss the visit of Roma. Delio Rossi will deploy a 4-3-2-1 system that will have Miccoli as the lone striker upfront with Pastore and Ilicic as the two playmakers behind him.
Roma
Okaka, Taddei and Perrotta are out because of injuries while Burdisso is suspended. Ranieri's 4-3-1-2 formation will have Menez deployed as the playmaker behind Totti and Borriello.
Prediction
This promises to be a very entertaining game and one can expect a few goals. Both Palermo and Roma are committed to attacking football and are defensively susceptible. This is a tough one to call and it could well end in a draw.
Palermo 2-2 Roma 
