Preview: Cagliari vs Roma - prediction, team news, lineups

Having been toppled from the Serie A summit last week, Roma will aim to respond with an away win on Sunday, when they visit struggling Cagliari.

While the Giallorossi are flying high in Italy's top tier, their hosts have not won a league game since September - and they crashed out of the Coppa Italia in midweek.

Match preview

After 12 matchdays, Roma sat top of Serie A outright for the first time in more than a decade, but it was a fleeting taste of supremacy, as they were promptly beaten by the reigning champions.

Largely outplayed in the Derby del Sole, Gian Piero Gasperini's team were second-best throughout a 1-0 home defeat to Napoli, who showed just why they are the Scudetto holders.

Still, Roma last lost consecutive Serie A matches one year ago, after which Claudio Ranieri's successful interim reign set the stage for Gasperini.

Compared to this point of proceedings last season, the Giallorossi have accrued 14 more points, and they remain on track to meet their main objective: returning to the Champions League.

Victory this week would see them reach 30 points after 14 games for the first time in eight years, but a relatively thin squad will have their credentials fully tested in the weeks ahead.

Sunday's game marks the first of nine in 35 days - across Serie A, the Europa League and Coppa Italia - so Roma will want to set the tone with yet another success in Sardinia.

The capital club have lost just one of their last 20 league meetings with Cagliari - winning 14 - while keeping clean sheets in all of the last three.

During that spell, the sole Sardinian victory came back in April 2021, so Cagliari will have history firmly against them.

More recently, the Rossoblu have been in dire form, taking just four points from their last nine Serie A matches.

Previously denied victory by a late goal in a 3-3 draw against Genoa, Fabio Pisacane's side were then beaten 2-1 by Juventus in their final November fixture.

Despite Sebastiano Esposito's first-half strike raising hopes of an upset, Kenan Yildiz bagged a brace, consigning Cagliari to yet another defeat in Turin.

Then, on Wednesday night, Esposito's equaliser forced Napoli to a penalty shootout in the Coppa Italia, but there was more heartache to endure, as misses by Mattia Felici and Zito Luvumbo proved costly.

Now out of the cup, the Isolani must focus solely on Serie A survival, with their buffer to the drop zone continuing to dwindle.

Cagliari Serie A form:

D L L D D L

Cagliari form (all competitions):

L L D D L L

Roma Serie A form:

W W L W W L

Roma form (all competitions):

L W W W W L

Team News

Plagued by misfortune this season, Roma star Paulo Dybala now hopes to overcome an illness, having played fewer than 500 minutes across the first 13 Serie A matchdays.

Another injury-prone forward, Leon Bailey, is now fully fit, leaving Artem Dovbyk as the hosts' only confirmed absentee.

With few other options if Dybala cannot start, Gasperini would ask either Evan Ferguson or false nine Tommaso Baldanzi - who has also been laid low by the flu - to lead his attack.

By contrast with Roma's goal woes, Cagliari front pair Gennaro Borrelli and Esposito both have two from their last two league appearances - the latter also scored in midweek.

However, winger Felici sustained a serious knee injury against Napoli, albeit he somehow stayed on to take part in the shootout.

Ex-Roma striker Andrea Belotti is also a long-term absentee, while Ze Pedro and Luca Mazzitelli are currently on the sidelines.

Cagliari possible starting lineup:

Caprile; Zappa, Mina, Luperto; Palestra, Deiola, Prati, Folorunsho, Obert; Esposito, Borrelli

Roma possible starting lineup:

Svilar; Mancini, Ndicka, Hermoso; Celik, Cristante, Kone, Wesley; Soule, Pellegrini; Dybala