Analysis:

Lazio find themselves in an unfamiliar position - battling against relegation with Catania in this fixture. Only two points separate these two teams going into this match. Both are at risk of relegation and were recently knocked out of the Coppa Italia, so there is everything to play for here.

There is huge pressure on Lazio to bring back Cristian Ledesma into the side after he lost his legal appeal to rescind their contract and an offer from Inter was rejected. With an injury crisis at the club, especially in midfield it would be silly not to bring him back into the side.

Coach Davide Ballardini already has to do without Pasquale Foggia, Cristian Brocchi, Simone Del Nero and probably also Francelino Matuzalem for this tie. January signing Thomas Hitzlsperger could well feature, but Eyal Golasa is out injured.

Catania are without the likes of Pablo Barrientos, Francesco Fabio Sciacca and Giovanni Marchese as they are out injured. The visitors will hope to cause an upset here. They have already beaten Juventus 2-1 before Christmas so it would be foolish to under-estimate them.

However, that was the Elefantini’s one and only away win of the season, surrounded by four draws and six defeats. So it looks more towards Lazio havign the edge here. It is also true that their lone victory at the Olimpico was 1-0 in the 1981-82 Serie B campaign. In the top flight their record here is of four draws in a total 10 trips here.

Get on Lazio to get the win here.

Cheers and good luck,
Cruiser

The Statistics :

LAZIO LAST SIX HOME FORM
	DATE	RESULT		OPPOSITION
	2010-01-24	D	1-1	H v Chievo
	2010-01-06	W	4-1	H v Livorno
	2009-12-13	W	1-0	H v Genoa
	2009-11-29	D	0-0	H v Bologna
	2009-11-08	L	1-2	H v Milan_AC
	2009-10-28	L	0-1	H v Cagliari
CATANIA LAST SIX AWAY FORM
	DATE	RESULT		OPPOSITION
	2010-01-17	D	1-1	A v Sampdoria
	2010-01-10	L	2-0	A v Genoa
	2009-12-20	W	1-2	A v Juventus
	2009-12-06	L	3-2	A v Siena
	2009-11-22	D	1-1	A v Palermo
	2009-11-01	L	3-1	A v Fiorentina

HEAD TO HEAD LAZIO v CATANIA
DATE	HOME	SCORE	AWAY
2008-11-02	Lazio	1-0	Catania
2007-12-08	Lazio	2-0	Catania
2007-02-28	Lazio	3-1	Catania

The Pick :

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