Lazio square off against Cremonese on Sunday afternoon looking to bounce back from one of the most unforeseen European defeats in their history earlier this week.
At a time when the visitors sit in seventh place in the Serie A standings, Cremonense are 18th and without a win from their opening six games.
Match preview
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Sitting three points adrift of top spot and with a win over Inter Milan under their belts, Lazio have to be content with their start to the new Serie A campaign.
However, Thursday's 5-1 defeat to FC Midtjylland has rocked I Biancocelesti given that they had travelled to Denmark fully expecting to record maximum points.
Although Maurizio Sarri selected a strong starting lineup, Lazio were well beaten and are now under pressure to respond against Sturm Graz after the international break.
While Lazio have only kept two clean sheets this campaign, they had not shipped more than two goals in a single match before they were blown away in the Europa League.
Sarri's side have only played two away fixtures in the top flight this campaign with matches against Torino and Sampdoria both ending in draws.
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Staying on the subject of draws and Cremonese have got their season up and running with stalemates from their two most recent outings.
A goalless draw with Sassuolo was a much-needed step in the right direction ahead of a daunting trip to Atalanta BC, but Massimiliano Alvini's team were able to pull off one of the surprise results of the season.
Emanuele Valeri cancelled out Merih Demiral's opener four minutes earlier to earn the visitors a share of the spoils at the Gewiss Stadium.
Cremonese had previously given good accounts of themselves in defeats against the likes of Roma and Inter Milan, and this game feels set up for I Violini to push Lazio even further on familiar territory.
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Team News
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Barring any injury issues, Alvini will see little reason to make any changes to his Cremonese XI for this contest.
Felix Afena-Gyan, recently signed from Roma, made his debut from the substitutes' bench against Atalanta, but the 19-year-old will likely have to remain patient for a chance in the team.
The same applies to Scotland international Jack Hendry, who was introduced for the final seven minutes to help protect the draw in that game.
Manuel Lazzari misses out for Lazio with a hamstring injury, so Elseid Hysaj will likely be drafted into the starting XI.
Danilo Cataldi should return in midfield, but Mattia Zaccagni is expected to miss out through injury.
Cremonese possible starting lineup:
Radu; Aiwu, Chiriches, Lochoshvili; Sernicola, Escalante, Meite, Valeri; Pickel, Dessers, Okereke
Lazio possible starting lineup:
Provedel; Hysaj, Patric, Romagnoli, Marusic; Milinkovic-Savic, Cataldi, Alberto; Anderson, Immobile, Pedro
We say: Cremonese 0-2 Lazio
Although their defeat on Thursday was demoralising at the time, you have to expect that Lazio will be motivated to respond at the first opportunity. Cremonese have improved in recent weeks, but we are backing the visitors to run out relatively comfortable winners.
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.
Top tip
Darren Plant
