While derbies traditionally see prior form fly out of the window, as both teams lay everything on the line for 90 minutes against their loathed local rivals, Lazio may be concerned about recent results.

Having won only one of their previous six Serie A matches - losing their grip on a Champions League place for next season - they edged out fellow top-four contenders Atalanta BC last week, with Gustav Isaksen's strike separating the sides in Bergamo.

That was just the Biancocelesti's fifth top-flight success of 2025, and since the turn of the year they have won back-to-back league games only once: in February, against lowly Cagliari and Monza.

Then, on Thursday they were beaten 2-0 by Bodo/Glimt in the first leg of their Europa League quarter-final - and it could easily have been a heavier defeat in northern Norway - leaving their fate in the balance ahead of next week's return.

Hit for six by Inter Milan at the end of 2024, before losing 5-0 to Bologna last month, Lazio are apparently still a work in progress under Marco Baroni, who had made an impressive start to life at Stadio Olimpico.

Now trailing behind in the top-four race, with only seven rounds remaining, the capital club can afford few more mistakes if they are to return to Europe's elite level.

Lazio are unbeaten in their last nine 'home' games against Roma across all competitions - already a record run - so they will be intent on continuing that trend on Sunday.

Having led their old foes by 15 points in the standings before January's reverse fixture, that gap has since shrunk to two, making another derby defeat all but unthinkable for fans of the Biancocelesti.

After striking twice in the first 20 minutes to win the clubs' most recent clash, Roma have not conceded a goal in their last three top-flight derbies - and they are now aiming to do the league double over Lazio for the first time since 2016.

In a typically tempestuous contest three months ago, Taty Castellanos was sent off during second-half stoppage time, and unsurprisingly this fixture has the highest number of both yellow and red cards in Serie A this century.

Roma went into that game as underdogs, following the sacking of club icon Daniele De Rossi and a disastrous spell under Ivan Juric, but the return of beloved boss Claudio Ranieri has since brought stability.

The Giallorossi's hometown hero became the first man to win his first four Serie A derbies as Roma manager, and he could now equal Fabio Capello, Nils Liedholm, Luciano Spalletti and Luigi Barbesino (all five) for most Derby della Capitale successes.

Under the 73-year-old's watch, Roma are currently unbeaten in 15 league matches, of which they have won 11, and only freshly-crowned French champions Paris Saint-Germain boast a longer streak without defeat across Europe's top five leagues.

Though they bowed out of both the Europa League and Coppa Italia, the last match they lost in Italy's top tier dates back to mid-December, following last week's hard-fought 1-1 draw with Juventus.

Back in the mix for a top-four finish, Roma's revival has been quite spectacular, as Ranieri enjoys a golden third stint at his boyhood club before moving upstairs to take a director's role this summer.

In a multi-team fight for European qualification, Fiorentina and AC Milan have already been overtaken, so leapfrogging Lazio would taste even sweeter.

Lazio possible starting lineup:

Provedel; Marusic, Gila, Romagnoli, Pellegrini; Guendouzi, Rovella; Isaksen, Dia, Zaccagni; Castellanos

Roma possible starting lineup:

Svilar; Mancini, Hummels, Ndicka; Saelemaekers, Kone, Paredes, Angelino; Soule, Pellegrini; Dovbyk