Lazio will be looking to return to winning ways in Italy's top flight when they continue their 2020-21 campaign away to Benevento on Tuesday night.
The visitors suffered a 2-1 home defeat to Hellas Verona on Saturday and currently sit down in eighth position in the table, while Benevento are 14th, having picked up 11 points from their 11 matches this term.
Match preview
© Reuters
A record of three wins, two draws and six defeats from 11 matches has brought Benevento 11 points, leaving them in 14th position in the table as things stand.
There is a strong chance that the picture will have changed by the time that they take to the field for Tuesday's match, but there have been encouraging signs for last season's Serie B winners.
Filippo Inzaghi's side held the champions Juventus to a 1-1 draw at the end of November, while they also took a point off Parma on December 6 before losing narrowly at Sassuolo on Saturday.
Benevento will be desperate to consolidate at this level and a positive result on Tuesday would be another step in the right direction, but they have conceded 11 times in their last two Serie A games with Lazio, with both of those losses - 6-2 and 5-1 - occurring during the 2017-18 campaign.
© Reuters
There will be sibling rivalry on Tuesday as Filippo Inzaghi's younger brother Simone Inzaghi brings his Lazio side to Benevento looking to record a sixth Serie A victory of the season.
The White and Sky Blues were extremely impressive in the league last term, picking up 78 points from their 38 matches to claim fourth, just five points behind the champions Juventus.
As a result, Le Aquile secured a spot in the group stages of the Champions League and managed to book their spot in the round of 16 despite winning just two of their six matches in Group F.
Lazio's progression to the knockout stage is a huge positive for the club, but it would be fair to say that the team's Serie A form this season has been underwhelming.
A return of 17 points from 11 matches has left them in eighth position in the table, and the Eagles will enter Tuesday's contest at Stadio Ciro Vigorito off the back of a 2-1 home loss to Verona on Saturday.
Benevento Serie A form: LLWDDL
Lazio Serie A form: WDWLWL
Lazio form (all competitions): WLDWDL
Team News
© Reuters
Benevento will again be without the services of Nicolas Viola, Christian Maggio and Luca Caldirola for Tuesday's contest, but the home side did not pick up any fresh injury concerns against Sassuolo.
Roberto Insigne is pushing for a spot in starting XI, having replaced Hetemaj during Saturday's clash, although Filippo Inzaghi could resist the temptation to make changes.
Gianluca Lapadula and Gianluca Caprari have scored six Serie A goals between them this season, and the pair will continue in the final third of the field.
As for Lazio, Vedat Muriqi and Silvio Proto will again be unavailable for selection, while the visitors are also sweating on the fitness of Luis Alberto, Luiz Felipe, Patric and Senad Lulic.
Joaquin Correa is expected to return to the starting XI, having been named on the bench against Verona, while Wesley Hoedt could come in for Francesco Acerbi, who was replaced early on Saturday.
Felipe Caicedo is likely to drop out of the team despite scoring against Verona, but the likes of Lucas Leiva, Sergej Milinkovic-Savic and Ciro Immobile will keep their spots in the side.
Benevento possible starting lineup:
Montipo; Letizia, Tuia, Glik, Barba; Hetemaj, Schiattarella, Improta; Ionita, Caprari; Lapadula
Lazio possible starting lineup:
Reina; Radu, Hoedt, Parolo; Lazzari, Akpro, Lucas, Milinkovic-Savic, Marusic; Immobile, Correa
We say: Benevento 1-2 Lazio
Lazio will be desperate to bounce back from the home defeat to Verona, and we fancy the visitors to emerge victorious on Tuesday night, with Benevento having lost three of their last four matches on home soil.
Top betting tip
Data Analysis
Our analysis of all available data, including recent performances and player stats up until an hour before kickoff, suggested the most likely outcome of this match was a Lazio win with a probability of 52.72%. A win for Benevento had a probability of 23.87% and a draw had a probability of 23.4%.
The most likely scoreline for a Lazio win was 0-1 with a probability of 9.92%. The next most likely scorelines for that outcome were 1-2 (9.76%) and 0-2 (8.77%). The likeliest Benevento win was 1-0 (6.24%), while for a drawn scoreline it was 1-1 (11.03%). The actual scoreline of 1-1 was predicted with an 11% likelihood.
