Gasperini warning Cremonese vs. Roma will be ‘hard fought’

Gian Piero Gasperini expects a ‘hard-fought’ match for Roma away to Jamie Vardy’s Cremonese this afternoon, warning they must ‘get our heads into Serie A mode and do it quickly.’

It kicks off at the Stadio Giovanni Zini at 14.00 GMT.

You can follow all the build-up and action as it happens from today’s Serie A games on the Liveblog.

The Giallorossi went into this weekend as joint leaders with Inter, but as Napoli won yesterday against Atalanta, it puts the pressure back on for top spot.

“Like all games in Serie A, this is going to be difficult. Cremonese have enthusiasm, quality that they have shown in the early weeks of the season, so it’s going to be hard-fought,” Gasperini told DAZN Italia.

Roma have lost both their Serie A matches straight after the break for international duty, so are they concerned going into this weekend?

“They were two very different games. We certainly had difficulties against Torino, while I feel we played very well against Inter. It is a problem for all clubs who have a lot of players away on international duty, we’ve got to get our heads into Serie A mode and do it quickly.”

Injuries continue to pile up for Paulo Dybala, Artem Dovbyk, Leon Bailey, Angelino and Mario Hermoso, with Evan Ferguson not at 100 per cent either.

It means Matias Soulé is used as a False 9, with rare starts for Tommaso Baldanzi and Jan Ziolkowski, but still no place for Kostas Tsimikas, preferring to move Wesley to the other side instead.

“It’s a bit of everything leading me to this decision. Baldanzi has done very well in that role in training, Ferguson just returned from injury, so we’ll see what decisions are best over the course of the 90 minutes,” concluded Gasperini.