Frontline Football Blog

At the beginning of the season, there were few who believed that AS Roma would be able to pose any kind of threat to Inter Milan's title aspirations. Instead, teams such as Juventus and AC Milan were thought to be the reigning champion's toughest competition.

Despite getting off to a brilliant start, Juventus has disappointed greatly during the last couple of months and currently lies in seventh place. While Milan experienced quite a revival after a rather poor start to the season, the Rossoneri are third in the standings at the moment-two points shy of Roma.

Roma started off the season in terrible fashion, with back to back defeats which saw them in rock bottom of the table two rounds into the new campaign. Even more surprising was Luciano Spalletti's shock decision to resign after four years on the job. On Sept. 2, the former Chelsea and Juventus tactician, Claudio Ranieri, was appointed head coach.

The capital club went on to win 2-1 to Siena on Ranieri's debut. Since his takeover, they have only succumbed to three defeats, the last of which came on Oct. 28 against Udinese. In other words, the Giallorossi has gone undefeated in all competition for well over three months.

Arsenal vs. AS Roma

24 Feb 2009 20:45:00 CET
Emirates Stadium-London
Referee: Claus Bo Larsen (Denmark)

Arsenal finished second in group G with 11 points and their only defeat came to group winners Porto. The Gunners went all the way to the final in 2006 where they were defeated at the hands of Barcelona. Since then, the North London club hasn't been nearly as successful in their quest for European glory.

Injuries and poor form has seen Arsenal slip down the standings and just last weekend they collected their third consecutive goalless draw. The club is currently residing in fifth place with a mighty 17 points separating them from the top-which makes it rather safe to say that they're out of the title race for this time.

Alexandre Pato and Mirko Vucinic each bagged a brace as Roma came back to tie AC Milan at the Stadio Olimpico in Rome Sunday night. David Beckham was surprisingly handed a starting shirt on his much anticipated Serie A debut while Roma talisman Francesco Totti watched his team mates from the stands.

The game took off on a somewhat slow note as both team gathered possession while seizing each other up. The home side's John Arne Riise had the first chance on goal when his low drive from outside the penalty box was smothered by Abbiati in the Milan goal. Minutes later Clarence Seedorf saw his long range effort go high over the crossbar.

Twenty minutes into the game, Roma were taking up more possession as Milan's grip on the match slowly loosened. Vucinic received Riise's deep cross from the left and turned away both Maldini and Jankulovski before he put Roma one up to the approval of the Giallorossi fans.

Milan immediately started to press forward in their search for an equalizer and enjoyed large spells of possessions, but with the opposing team's excellent defense skills, the Rossoneri players had problems leaving their half of the pitch. Neither of the teams managed to create anything of significance during the remainder of an otherwise subtle first half.

Two teams in dire need of points are set to lock horns at the Stadio Olimpico on Sunday evening. Roma are aiming to land a Champions League spot, whereas Milan is trying hard not to fall further behind Juventus and Inter in the title race.

Both teams will want to turn over a new leaf and start the new year on a positive note. Considering that Roma are looking for confidence while Milan is searching for consistency-the case of who will come out on top is far from predictable.