As we have now moved into February, the business end of the 2017/18 Serie A season is getting nearer and nearer. It is looking like the title will be heading to either Napoli or Juventus but the battle for 3^rd and 4^th is still well and truly on with Lazio being the front-runners. They currently occupy the third spot in Serie A and face Genoa on Tuesday night. Their opponents are struggling down towards the bottom of the table in 16^th.

STATS

• Lazio are having a very good season despite falling away from the two leading sides with the gap between them and 2^nd-placed Juventus now 13 points. Lazio have lost just four league matches out of their 22 this term but one of those came in their last game against AC Milan in a 2-1 defeat. They won three consecutive fixtures before that, scoring 13 goals in the process with five each in the matches against Chievo and SPAL.
• Genoa are treading dangerously in the league this season and currently sit where they finished at the end of the last campaign. They have won two of their last five but also lost two, both losses coming in their two most recent games. There have been just four goals in their last five league fixtures: 1-0 losses to Juventus and Udinese, 1-0 wins over Sassuolo and Benevento with a goalless draw against Torino.
• Ciro Immobile is on fire this season and is Serie A’s leading goal scorer. With 20 goals, only Harry Kane, Edinson Cavani and Mohamed Salah have more goals in Europe’s top five leagues.
• Genoa have massively struggled to score goals this season and this is highlighted by their top scorer’s lack of goals. Andrey Galabinov has the most in their squad with just three.

HEAD TO HEAD

Over the last few years, Genoa haven’t been able to get a sniff in their clashes with Lazio, the White and Blues haven’t been beaten by Genoa in their last six attempts. The reverse fixture earlier in this campaign saw 5 goals as Lazio came out 3-2 winners thanks to an Immobile winner in the last 10 minutes. However, Genoa had won each of the seven prior to those six. Despite Genoa’s current lack of attacking prowess, both teams have scored in all four of the last four meetings in all competitions.

LAZIO NEWS

Lazio can’t move higher in the table with a win over Genoa but they can hopefully put some breathing space between themselves and Roma/Inter in the places directly below them. They will be disappointed to see that Immobile still hasn’t fully recovered from his injury that has kept him out for a couple of weeks now while Sergej Milinkovic-Savic is banned.

Latest matches: Lazio Roma

31.01.2018	Copp	AC Milan	Lazio Roma	0:0	D
28.01.2018	Seri	AC Milan	Lazio Roma	2:1	L
24.01.2018	Seri	Lazio Roma	Udinese Calcio	3:0	W
21.01.2018	Seri	Lazio Roma	AC Chievo Verona	5:1	W
06.01.2018	Seri	Spal 2013	Lazio Roma	2:5	W

GENOA NEWS

A very unlikely three points for Genoa could take them as high as 13^th in the table but at this point, it’s just about getting away from the drop zone. Armando Izzo has returned to training this week but Guiseppe Rossi and Miguel Veloso are still out injured for the visitors.

Latest matches: Genoa FC

28.01.2018	Seri	Genoa FC	Udinese Calcio	0:1	L
22.01.2018	Seri	Juventus Turin	Genoa FC	1:0	L
06.01.2018	Seri	Genoa FC	US Sassuolo	1:0	W
30.12.2017	Seri	Turin FC	Genoa FC	0:0	D
23.12.2017	Seri	Genoa FC	Benevento Calcio	1:0	W

SUMMARY

It should be a very routine victory for Lazio in this one but they won’t be as free-scoring without Immobile in the side. Genoa aren’t expected to put up much of a fight against one of Europe’s strongest attacking teams, they will be hoping to catch the hosts out on the counter-attack, that is their only hope.