Europa League Preview: AS Roma - Fulham

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Europa League: Brede Hangeland, Fulham v AS Roma (Getty Images)

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• Fulham
• Roma

Kick-off: Thursday, November 5, 2009 - 18:00 GMT
Stadio Olimpico, Rome

Having impressively dispatched Liverpool over the weekend, Fulham can look to further improve their stock by putting on a performance against AS Roma in the Europa League on Thursday.

The progression of the Cottagers under manager Roy Hodgson has been quite remarkable, especially when you consider that a little over a year ago the club only avoided relegation from the Premier League by the skin of their teeth.

These days Fulham are certainly established in England’s top flight and are making the most of their latest foray into Europe where they currently sit in second place in Group E, one point behind leaders Basle.

Roma have made a hugely disappointing start to the season, much to the frustration of the club's fans. The recent incident involving angry supporters staging a small protest outside the club’s Trigoria training complex highlights the tensions between Il Giallorossi and their fans, with the club languishing in 14th place in Serie A.

The narrow 2-1 victory over struggling Bologna on Saturday did little to stem the tide of supporter unrest, and a negative result against Fulham will hardly help matters.

One of the most attractive Italian sides around at one point, Roma are currently a shadow of their former selves. Pinpointing exactly what is going wrong is a difficult task but judging by the fact that the club are riddled with debt - arguably the most overriding problem - results on the pitch clearly need to start improving if the team from the Eternal City are to survive and prosper in the future.

FORM GUIDE

AS Roma

01 Nov: Roma 2-1 Bologna (Serie A)
28 Oct: Udinese 2-1 Roma (Serie A)
25 Oct: Roma 0-1 Livorno (Serie A)
22 Oct: Fulham 1-1 Roma (Europa League)
18 Oct: Milan 2-1 Roma (Serie A)

Fulham

31 Oct Fulham 3-1 Liverpool (Premier League)
25 Oct: Man City 2-2 Fulham (Premier League)
22 Oct: Fulham 1-1 Roma (Premier League)
19 Oct: Fulham 2-0 Hull City (Premier League)
04 Oct: West Ham 2-2 Fulham (Premier League)

TEAM NEWS

AS Roma

Influential skipper Francesco Totti remains unavailable for Roma despite recently returning to training following knee problems.

Former Arsenal and Real Madrid attacking midfielder Julio Baptista will hope to return to the starting line-up having only featured as a late substitute in the victory over Bologna, and Daniele De Rossi should also start having been absent from the game on Sunday.

Possible starting XI: Doni; Riise, Juan, Mexes, Motta; Baptista, De Rossi, Perotta, Pizarro, Menez; Vucinic.

Fulham

Damien Duff will definitely miss out for Fulham after he was forced off during the 3-1 win over Liverpool with an Achilles strain.

The Cottagers will be hopeful of welcoming back Danny Murphy and Andrew Johnson to the side although both will likely start on the bench.

Norwegian striker Erik Nevland and Clint Dempsey, meanwhile, have both surely earned a place in the starting eleven following their impact at the Cottage last weekend.

Simon Davies completed his comeback from injury for the reserves on Tuesday so looks very unlikely to play any part against Roma.

Possible starting XI: Schwarzer; Konchesky, Hughes, Hangeland, Pantsil; Gera, Dempsey, Etuhu, Greening; Zamora, Nevland.

PLAYERS TO WATCH

AS Roma – Julio Baptista

The Brazilian will undoubtedly be desperate to prove his worth against English opposition having ultimately failed to make the grade during his time in the Premier League with Arsenal.

Baptista scored an impressive nine goals for Roma in Serie A last season and despite his failure to find the net in the league thus far this term, that barren run will surely soon be over.

Fulham – Zoltan Gera

Zoltan Gera has scarcely appeared from the start so far this season for Fulham, and completing 90 minutes has been even more of a struggle, especially in the Premier League where he has only completed one full match (and ironically that appearance provided his only goal in the league this term).

Gera should feature from the start in Rome, however, with the likes of Damien Duff and Simon Davies struggling for fitness; and this could be his big chance to prove he is worthy of more regular starts in the league.

PREDICTION

Fulham were desperately unlucky not to take all three points the last time these two sides met in the competition last month, and when you consider Roma’s current plight, there’s nothing to suggest that Roy Hodgon’s side won’t go to the Olimpico and get a result.

That said, Roma boss Claudio Ranieri and his side are under excruciating pressure to put on a performance, and especially in front of their own passionate fans, which is why I predict that they will just edge this one, even without their talismanic captain.

AS Roma 2-1 Fulham

Stephen Darwin, Goal.com UK