Roma face Brighton at Stadio Olimpico in the first leg of their Round of 16 tie in 2023-24 UEFA Europa League.
Roma overcame a tough Knockout Play-Off against Feyenoord to reach this stage, whilst Brighton automatically qualified for the Last 16 as group winners.
Team News
Roma have no fresh injury concerns to report following their Serie A win at Monza.
Rasmus Kristensen (muscle), Rick Karsdrop and Tammy Abraham (both knee) are ruled out.
Brighton will welcome midfielder, Billy Gilmour back into contention because his suspension only applies to domestic matches.
Danny Welbeck (ankle) was rested in the Seagulls’ 3-0 Premier League loss at Fulham but is expected to start in Rome
Jack Hinshelwood (foot), Kaoru Mitoma (back), James Milner (thigh), Joao Pedro (hamstring) and Solly March (knee) remain absent.
When is Kick-Off?
Roma host Brighton at Stadio Olimpico on Thursday 7 March at 6:45pm CET (5:45pm UK Time), live on TNT Sports 2.
Stat Attack
- This is Roma’s first-ever competitive meeting against Brighton in all competitions.
- Brighton are visiting Stadio Olimpico for the first time in a competitive fixture.
- Roma have scored 10 goals and conceded just one goal at home in this season’s competition (W3, D1).
- Roberto De Zerbi’s Seagulls kept two clean sheets in their three away games in the group stage (W2, D1).
Prediction
With just one defeat under Daniele De Rossi in nine matches across all competitions, Roma really have to be favourites coming into this game but Feyenoord have shown that a well-organised defence is capable of troubling Roma as proved the case in their knockout play-off tie.
Brighton meanwhile come into this game off the back of two frustrating defeats where they just lacked creativity nor the final quality in their end product, although they were defensively beaten by poor marking at Fulham so huge improvement is imperative here if want to go into their home leg with the lead.
I however do worry that Roma are back to their attacking best and could have too much here so Brighton really need to be more disciplined at the back and clinical up front, especially if want a draw so can finish the Italian job at home otherwise I can see Roma taking firm control quickly.
Prediction: AS Roma 2-1 Brighton
Result: AS Roma 4-0 Brighton
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