Crotone and Lazio will engage in a fierce Serie A battle on Sunday when they meet at Ezio Scida Stadium as both sides are in danger of missing out on their objectives with just two matches left in the season. Lazio won the reverse fixture quite easily, it ended 4-0 in December with goals from Jordan Lukaku, Ciro Immobile, Sead Lulic and Felipe Anderson. However, last season Crotone did manage to beat Lazio 3-1 at home after having suffered a narrow 1-0 defeat in the away game.
Crotone are very close to securing their Serie A status for another season, but they are also quite close to missing out on that objective because their last match of the season will be at second-placed Napoli. Crotone are currently just one point above the relegation zone, tied on 34 points with Udinese and Chievo. Any point that they could get against Lazio could make a huge difference and the home side could gain some confidence from the fact that they did manage to hold champions Juventus to a 1-1 draw less than a month ago. Ante Budimir and Ahmad Benali are the only injury concerns for the home side.
Lazio have lost just one of their last thirteen matches in all competitions, but somehow they are very close to missing out on their objectives. That lone defeat was the nightmare 4-1 thumping at Salzburg, the result which knocked Lazio out of the UEFA Europa League. In the Serie A, Lazio are in a fierce battle with Inter for fourth place and the two sides will clash in Rome on the last day of the season. So, Lazio need a victory at Crotone to give themselves the chance of playing for a draw in the last match of the season, but it will be tough with Luiz Felipe, Luis Alberto and Ciro Immobile all out injured.
Probable line-ups:
Crotone: Cordaz - Faraoni, Ceccherini, Capuano, Martella - Stoian, Barberis, Mandragora - Nalini, Simy, Trotta
Lazio: Strakosha - Caceres, De Vrij, Radu - Marusic, Murgia, Leiva, Lulic - Anderson, Milinkovic-Savic - Caicedo
My prediction: 1-1 draw.
Here are the odds for the match at Bet365:
Crotone win - 4.20
Draw - 3.60
Lazio win - 1.85
05/14/18, 06:05:15 PM
