Europe Europa League - Round 2

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Roma vs Lille Preview:

Possible starting lineups:

Roma:
Svilar; Hermoso, Mancini, Ndicka; Rensch, Cristante, El Aynaoui, Tsimikas; Soule, El Shaarawy; Ferguson

Lille:
Bodart; Santos, Ngoy, Mbemba, Verdonk; Bentaleb, Bouaddi; Fernandez-Pardo, Haraldsson, Sahraoui; Giroud

Roma will welcome Lille to Stadio Olimpico in the Europe League second round clash. Both teams are looking to maintain their winning starts in the competition, having secured victories on the opening matchday. As You probably know, Roma beat Nice as guests, while Lille outplayed the Norwegian side Brann. First about Roma. The Giallorossi started the season in excellent way. They managed to register four victories in the opening five rounds of Serie A. Roma beat Bologna, Pisa, Lazio and Hellas Verona, but lost to Torino. What is worse, the defeat came at home, so Roma missed a chance to recorded a perfect start to the new season. However, new coach Gasperini is doing a good job and I believe the fans are satisfied. Some of them start dreaming about the Scudetto. Of course, Gasperini refuses the talks about the title as he don't want to put the players under pressure. At the end, few words about injury situation - Paulo Dybala and Leon Bailey are the only missing players. Tommaso Baldanzi is also unavailable as he was not named in the club's UEFA list. With one eye on Sunday's league fixture against Fiorentina, some rotation is expected.

As I wrote above, Lille won 2:1 against Brann in the opening round of the competition. After the goalless first half, Hamza Igamane found the net in the 54th minute. However, just six minutes later Brann equalized the result and it seemed the points will be shared. Nevertheless, veteran striker Olivier Giroud, who came from the bench, scored LOSC's late winning goal. The atmosphere in the squad is good, while the players confidence is higher. By the way, the 39-year-old Giroud became the oldest substitute to score a Europa League goal. The domestic results are solid too. Les Dogues have three wins, one draw and two defeats in their first six games of the season, scoring 13 goals. Only one side (Monaco) have scored more than Lille. However, Lille failed to scored during the weekend and narrowly lost to high-flying Lyon. To be worse, coach Bruno Genesio was sent off and he will be suspended, but not for European games. Genesio will definitely lead the team at Olimpico, but some of his players stayed in France. First-choice goalkeeper Berke Ozer, midfielder Benjamin Andre and defenders Thomas Meunier, Romain Perraud and Alexsandro are all sidelined due to injury. Their absence is a big handicap for the guests.

Roma vs Lille Prediction:

Both teams, Roma and Lille, will try to maintain their winning starts in UEFA Europe League, having secured victories in the first round. Interesting, they both won 2:1, Roma against Nice and Lille against Brann. I expect a tight match that could go either way, though Roma are favorites. The first reason for my pick is the home advantage. Fully-packed Stadio Olimpico will be the 12th player for Roma. But there is more, Roma are in excellent form. The Giallorossi have won five of their six competitive games, including the weekend's match against Verona. Lille, meanwhile, lost the previous two Ligue 1 fixtures against Lyon and Lens. As conclusion, Roma are in better form and should beat Lille, particularly because they are without some injured players.

Roma vs Lille Pick: Roma to win @ 1.75 with Pinnacle