Don't read to much into last weeks 5-0 drubbing of Livorno at the hands of Inter.  Livorno were without last season top scorer, Lucarelli and once Inter were up 2-0, Livorno seem to pack it in. Livorno have 2 wins and 1 draw at home and that is where they are strong.  Many will look at the fact that they have allowed 8 goals in their last 2 games, but those were on the road against Fiorentina and Inter.  Reggina have looked very decent in their last few games.  Last week they beat Lecce 2-0, the week prior they played on the road against Milan and only lost 2-1, while 3 weeks ago they beat Udinese 2-0.  Personally I can make excuses for their string of 3 decent games.  Against Udinese they caught them without Iaquinta and Udinese had lost 4 straight.  Against Milan that 2-1 score line is flattering as Milan dominated and held Reggina to 1 shot on goal.  Last week against Lecce they beat a struggling team who cannot win on the road.  Reggina too have struggled on the road this season despite playing well in their last 3.  They have lost all 3 road games and until they show me some kind of decent effort on the road I will continue to fade them.

This one looks like the "trap of the week" and if it is I'll bite.  Everything points to a high scoring affair, yet the books are not to keen of following that lead as most books have this one going either way.  Very strange when you consider Palermo attempt the most shots on goal in Serie A with 18.7, while Milan attempt the 2nd most with 17.7.  Too add to this point, Palermo have allowed 8 goals in their last 3 games, and two of those games were against Chievo and Empoli which are two offensively anaemic teams.  Milan at home are usually unbeatable and this season is no different as they've won all 3 games.  For this game, I can guarantee you Palermo will think "defence" first.  No way do they want to go to Milan and try to exchange goal for goal with them.  Perhaps they will look for a tight defensive game trying to score on the counter.  After all, if Palermo have any chance in this one it would be in a low scoring game rather than a high scoring affair. Palermo travelled to Isreal mid week for a cup game and jet lag and fatigue will also be against them here.  Palermo coach Del Neri is very smart and knows this so I am looking for something like a 2-0, or 1-0 game.  Shevchenko is out for this one but Vieri will start, so the drop off isn't that huge.

Big big derby here that pits and overrated Roma team against an underrated Lazio team.  Roma played a cup game mid week in Norway, but basically used 2nd string players in order to save the Totti's and so on for this big derby.  Lazio beat Fiorentina 1-0 last week and basically shut down Luca Toni.  Roma were embarrassed 0-1 against newcomers Empoli.  While Roma are the home team here, both teams are from Rome so there isn't really any kind of home field advantage.  Niether club wants to look bad so I think both will be careful and play more of a controlled tempo kind of game.  I don't think we will see the all the offence that most think.  Despite Roma's season so far, they only allow opponents to attempt 9.1 shots per game and when you take into account that Lazio only attempt 9.8 shots per game (last in Serie A). This one just might finish in a 1-1, or 0-0 draw.

Juventus played a hard fought mid week cup game against Bayern Munich so I look for some tired legs in this one.  Lecce are an offensive nightmare and with Juventus having a stout defence, I doubt Lecce will score here.  Offensively Juventus have not set the world on fire.  Some of their games this season have had them just play well enough to get by.  They only beat Udinese 1-0 on the road,  and last week could only manage 1 at home against Messina.  Juventus might just have a tough time getting up for this one and again I can see them only scoring as many as needed to get 3 points, which  might only be 1 or 2 goals.