AS Roma v Arsenal For a while, the trip to Italy has been football's equivalent of a hospital visit. A solicitous tone was mandatory and there was little prospect of the patient leaping off the sickbed.
Ailing Roma, who meet Arsenal tonight, have, in effect, been put out of European competition by English clubs in each of the past three seasons, losing to Leeds United and, twice, to Liverpool.
Even the Italian resurgence, with all four representatives present in the second phase of the Champions League, has only been a fringe benefit to Roma. They lost 3-0 to Parma at the weekend and are turning into a mid-table side in Serie A.
Unfortunately, Arsenal cannot relax and revel in all these signs of suffering. If Roma are short of form, Arsene Wenger is running out of players. David Seaman should overcome a recurrence of his groin strain, but, with Lauren and Ray Parlour injured and Kolo Toure suspended, the manager is betting on a long shot. Oleg Luzhny's chances of recovering from a hamstring strain are put at 20 per cent, but Wenger will not make a decision until the last moment.
Should a genuine right-back be a necessity, the manager might have Moritz Volz alone to call upon. The 19-year-old German has started only one game for the club, against Ipswich Town in the League Cup two seasons ago and returned to the low-wattage limelight for nine minutes during the defeat by Sunderland in the same competition last month.
Nonetheless, he was substituted during Monday's reserve match with Watford because he, at least, has to be preserved in good condition.
As their prospects in Serie A diminish, it is probable that Roma's focus on matches such as tonight's will grow more intense. Fabio Capello's side mustered a mere three goals in the initial group, but one, from Francesco Totti, claimed the prize of an away win over Real Madrid.
"Winning here would put us in the ideal position," said Wenger. With such a result, Arsenal would reinforce the impression that they are about to join the elite.
PROBABLE LINE-UPS
AS ROMA (4-3-1-2): Antonioli; Cafu, Zebina, Samuel, Candela; Tommasi, Emerson, Lima; Totti; Batistuta, Delvecchio.
ARSENAL (4-4-2): Seaman; Volz or Luzhny, Campbell, Cygan, Cole; Ljungberg, Vieira, Silva, Pires; Henry, Wiltord.
