Lazio vs Lecce

Stadio Olimpico is the venue as top-four-bidding Lazio and bottom-half Lecce go head-to-head in a lopsided Serie A showdown.

Lazio’s pursuit of a first top-four finish in Serie A since 2019/20 suffered another setback last weekend as AC Milan thumped them 2-0 without conceding a shot on target. But despite suffering three defeats in their four most recent league outings (W1), Maurizio Sarri’s men start this round three points clear of fifth-placed Milan, largely thanks to their impressive home form. ‘I Biancocelesti’ have racked up four victories in their last five home matches in Serie A (L1), keeping a clean sheet three times in this run. Indeed, only Inter Milan (10) and Bologna (12) have conceded fewer league goals on home turf than Lazio (14) this season. That’s encouraging as the home side bid to avoid losing three consecutive top-flight meetings with Lecce after back-to-back 2-1 H2H defeats.

Despite their recent H2H form, Lecce cannot draw much inspiration from their Serie A fortunes at the Stadio Olimpico, having kept Lazio at bay in just one of their 15 top-flight encounters in the capital. In addition to only winning once in that sequence, ‘I Giallorossi’ carry a disastrous five-match losing away league streak into this round, failing to hit the net in four of those five defeats. On top of their underwhelming away form, the visitors have emerged victorious only twice in their 32 away matches against sides from the capital in Serie A, most recently doing so in 2011. Marco Baroni’s men have massively underperformed against sides currently above them in the Serie A standings, losing nine of their 13 away games in such match-ups (W2, D2).