Roma give Gini Wijnaldum his first start with Paulo Dybala supporting Andrea Belotti for the trip to rock bottom Cremonese, who already knocked them out of the Coppa Italia.
It kicks off at the Stadio Zini at 17.30 GMT.
The Giallorossi can catch Inter and Milan in joint second place with a victory here, but also risk fatigue after Thursday’s 2-0 Europa League play-off win against RB Salzburg.
Tammy Abraham still struggling to get to grips with the protective face mask after needing stitches to a cut under his eye and Chris Smalling is suspended.
Marash Kumbulla therefore steps into defence, with Belotti upfront and there is the first start in the Roma jersey for Wijnaldum, who fractured his tibia during training in August.
Cremonese are rock bottom and without a single Serie A win to their name, yet they are in the Coppa Italia semi-final against Fiorentina, having eliminated Napoli in the Round of 16 and Roma in the quarter-final.
Johan Vasquez returns from suspension, while David Okereke, Cyriel Dessers and Vlad Chiriches have shaken off injuries, but Michele Castagnetti is out with tonsillitis.
Felix Afena-Gyan starts against his old club.
They held Torino to a thrilling 2-2 draw last week, where they had been leading 2-1.
Cremonese: Carnesecchi; Ferrari, Bianchetti, Vasquez; Sernicola, Pickel, Benassi, Valeri; Tsadjout, Afena-Gyan; Okereke
Roma: Rui Patricio; Mancini, Kumbulla, Ibanez; Zalewski, Cristante, Wijnaldum, Spinazzola; Pellegrini, Dybala; Belotti
Player statistic
| Alex Ferrari |  |
12' | ||
| Frank Tsadjout (Assist: Emanuele Valeri) |
 |
17' |
| Matteo Bianchetti | |
52' | ||
| Leonardo Sernicola | |
58' | ||
| 71' | |
Leonardo Spinazzola (Assist: Gianluca Mancini) | ||
| 74' | |
Stephan El Shaarawy | ||
| 82' | |
Roger Ibañez | ||
| Daniel Ciofani |  |
83' |
Match statistic
