Lazio take on Hellas Verona on Sunday evening having mathematically secured their place in next season's Champions League with a 2-1 success over Cagliari earlier this week.

Meanwhile, the home side welcome the title outsiders to Stadio Marcantonio Bentegodi looking to defend ninth position in the Serie A standings.

Match preview

Lazio midfielder Sergej Milinkovic-Savic celebrates scoring against Inter Milan in February 2020 © Reuters

With Juventus having suffered a surprise defeat at Udinese on Thursday night, Lazio still have a glimmer of hope with regards to challenging for the Serie A title.

However, requiring the leaders to lose their remaining three matches, boss Simone Inzaghi will remain focused on trying to achieve the runners-up spot, a task made more realistic courtesy of the victory over Cagliari.

Although I Biancocelesti were made to fight for the three points, the result finally brought a five-match winless streak to an end, leaving the club just two points adrift of second-placed Atalanta BC.

Despite the dip in form having all but ended their ambitions to claim a first league crown since 2000, positives will be taken from having secured a Champions League spot with three games to spare.

While thoughts about that competition are for another day, a certain degree of pressure has been lifted from Inzaghi and his squad ahead of testing away trips to Sunday's opponents and Napoli on the final day of the season.

Like the visitors, Verona have endured an untimely period without success, stretching back to a thrilling 3-2 triumph over Parma on July 1.

Ivan Juric and his players will naturally be disappointed with having failed to maintain an unlikely bid for the Europa League in their first season back in Serie A.

Nevertheless, despite the possibility of being pulled into the bottom half of the standings, victory on Sunday evening will keep the club in the hunt for eighth position.

Achieving that goal will depend on whether Sassuolo continue to falter over the final days of the campaign, but Juric will feel confident that Verona can at least end their frustrating run of form with SPAL and Genoa still on their schedule.

Hellas Verona Serie A form: LDDLDD

Lazio Serie A form: LLLDLW

Team News

Lazio head coach Simone Inzaghi pictured in November 2018 © Reuters

Having witnessed his side battle to victory on Thursday night, Inzaghi may consider keeping alterations to a minimum

There will be at least one change in the wing-back areas with Adam Marusic expected to replace the suspended Manuel Lazzari.

Joaquin Correa is competing with Felipe Caicedo for a place alongside Ciro Immobile in attack.

Valentin Eysseric may potentially be handed his first Verona start of the season after featuring as a second-half substitute against Torino.

With an extra day of recovery under their belt, Juric may opt against making any further changes.

Hellas Verona possible starting lineup:
Silvestri; Rrahmani, Gunter, Empereur; Faraoni, Veloso, Pessina, Lazovic; Eysseric, Borini; Verre

Lazio possible starting lineup:
Strakosha; Patric, Felipe, Acerbi; Marusic, Milinkovic-Savic, Parolo, Alberto, Lukaku; Caicedo, Immobile

We say: Hellas Verona 1-2 Lazio

Having finally got back to winning ways on Thursday night, we are backing Lazio to continue where they left off at Stadio Marcantonio Bentegodi. While it may prove to be a fiercely-fought contest, the visitors could prevail with a late goal.

Data Analysis

Our analysis of all available data, including recent performances and player stats up until an hour before kickoff, suggested the most likely outcome of this match was a Lazio win with a probability of 46.84%. A win for Hellas Verona had a probability of 28.43% and a draw had a probability of 24.7%.

The most likely scoreline for a Lazio win was 0-1 with a probability of 9.82%. The next most likely scorelines for that outcome were 1-2 (9.35%) and 0-2 (7.85%). The likeliest Hellas Verona win was 1-0 (7.31%), while for a drawn scoreline it was 1-1 (11.69%). The actual scoreline of 1-5 was predicted with a 0.6% likelihood. Our data analysis correctly predicted that Lazio would win this match.