Bologna vs. AS Roma: Preview and TV schedule

AS Roma will look to provisionally slice Juventus' lead at the top of the Serie A table to six points on Saturday, before the bianconeri take on their local rivals Torino a day later. However, Roma's task may be a little tougher than the league table would suggest, with their Emilian hosts Bologna having hit some decent form in recent weeks.

Davide Ballardini's side have moved a couple of points clear of the relegation zone, picking up a hard-fought 2-1 win away at Torino a couple of weeks ago, before only losing to AC Milan on a Mario Balotelli wonderstrike last time out. They may have lost playmaking star Alessandro Diamanti to Marcello Lippi's Guangzhou Evergrande, though they're certainly not going down without a fight.

However, they will be without four players through injury and suspension. Their biggest miss is midfielder and captain Diego Pérez, though the lively Panagiotis Kone should make up for his missing creativity. For Roma, left-backs Dodô and Federico Balzaretti are both sidelined, meaning Michel Bastos will continue in defence. Captain Francesco Totti and Maicon are also out.

Out: Michele Pazienza, Robert Acquafresca, Francesco Della Rocca (injured); Diego Pérez (suspended). In doubt: None.

Bologna: Gianluca Curci; Andrea Mantovani, Cesare Natali, Mikael Antonsson; Archimede Morleo, Lazaros Christodoulopoulos, Rene Krhin, Panagiotis Kone, György Garics; Jonathan Cristaldo, Rolando Bianchi.

AS Roma: Morgan De Sanctis; Michel Bastos, Leandro Castán, Mehdi Benatia, Vasilis Torosidis; Kevin Strootman, Daniele De Rossi, Miralem Pjanić; Gervinho, Mattia Destro, Alessandro Florenzi.