Roma appear to be coming into their best form at precisely the right moment. Their sparkling 5-1 demolition of Lazio in the Rome derby nine days ago and an easy 3-1 win against Atalanta at the Olympic Stadium on Saturday night kept them joint top of Serie A along with Inter Milan.

Saturday night's win, too, was achieved without the help of four players - Francesco Totti, Gabriel Batistuta, Emerson and Jonathon Zebina - who are likely to return, all the fitter and fresher tonight. Furthermore, key team players such as Frenchman Vincent Candela, Marco Delvecchio, goalkeeper Francesco Antonioli not to mention "super-sub" Vincenzo Montella (seven goals in his last three Serie A outings) are all playing out of their skins.

So, then, where's the worry? The worry is twofold. Firstly, especially in the light of recent poor Italian results in European competition, Anfield is not the place to visit, needing a "result" against a desperate Liverpool. Secondly, the game comes at a delicate moment for Roma, just five days before another potentially all-decisive game, their top of the table clash with Inter Milan at the San Siro next Sunday night.

The mood in the Italian champions' camp is decidedly upbeat yet one suspects that it would become even more so, were Liverpool's Michael Owen to be ruled out of the contest. One of the abiding memories of the 0-0 clash between these two teams in Rome last December was the extent to which the Roma defence (and indeed Fabio Capello, judging by the line-up that night) were keen to treat the Liverpool strike force of Emile Heskey and Owen with the utmost respect.

The line-up tonight, too, could prove crucial for Roma since Capello must decide between a defensive option that uses a five-man midfield, with Totti partnering either Batistuta or Montella in attack, or a more attacking formation with four men in midfield and with Totti playing behind a front pairing picked from the Delvecchio, Batistuta, Montella trio.

At this stage, it is pure guess work to attempt to read Capello's mind but the Roma coach may well be influenced in favour of the more attacking option if only because it has yielded such a high dividend, not only in recent Serie A and Champions League games (3-0 win against Barcelona) but also along the road to winning last season's Serie A title.