Big game for both clubs, the visitors will go level on points with Juventus at the top of the table with a win, at least for a couple of hours, that seemed impossible just a month ago when the gap was eight points and looked more likely to widen than close. They have really tightened up defensively since conceding six in two games in mid November, including four in a horror show in Catania and have kept six cleansheets in their last eight starts. Five of those matches were played in Rome and they have met a number of strugglers, regardless of which, it is a very solid sequence. Although they were lucky to take four points from the road games with Bologna and Sampdoria, where the home teams had the better of the exchanges. No Miroslav Klose ( 19-10-2) for the visitors and their three named strikers Floccari, Kozak and 18 yo Rozzi have just one Serie A goal between them this season.

Hosts desperately need a win and soon, they have taken just a single point from six starts since the end of November, but have had a very tough run of games, meeting Napoli, Inter, Juve, Fiorentina and Udinese. Of course, you could argue that today is equally as tough, but they will at least be buoyed by the mental memories they retain from the 5-1 thumping they administered to Lazio here last season. We spoke about Palermo ahead of their last win a 3-1 defeat of Catania here on November 24th ...I am very keen on Palermo tonight in the Sicilian derby game, which unlike a lot of such fixtures, tends to be dominated by the respective home team, with 9 of the last 13 h2h meetings being won by the host.

Odds are better than I expected , probaly because Palermo picked up three red cards at Bolgna last week, meaning keeper Samir Ujkani(13-0-0), midfielder Edgar Barreto (12-0-0) and central defender Carlos Labrin (1-0-0) are all suspended . The 20 minutes Labrin played are the only action he has seen all season,  we can forget him, as his main role is to keep the bench warm in case the coach wants to sit down. Back up keeper Francesco Benussi played 27 matches last season and had a 45 minute run out last week, so that is not a big concern, Barreto will probably be replaced by Uruguay international Arevalo Rios (9-1-1) and overall, the situation is much better than it at first appears and the return of Fabrizio Miccoli ( 11-4-1) overshadows everything, he is 27-16-12 in 2012 and Palermo are just a completelty different team with him in the line up. As tough as this game might look after a quick look at the league table, Catania are 0-3-3 on the road and this is as easy as it is going to get over the next month for the hosts with Palermo facing trips to Inter and Udinese and a visit from Juve in the next three weeks. Already in the drop zone, this could be a pivotal game in their season, they have beaten Sampdoria (2-0) and Chievo (4-1) here recently and led Milan 2-0 at the break, a similar showing today, should secure the points. 

They now sit back in the drop zone, four points from safety with a six pointer on the road against Cagliari next week, this is their first home start of 2013 and a realistic opportunity to get their survival campaign up and running. Oddly midfielder Edgar Barreto (18-0-0 ), who thrives on yellow cards is suspended again (see above), maybe that is an omen ! 1.25 units Palermo level ball 2.10 asian line/ Ibramarket.

Palermo:Benussi, Brichetto, Ujkani,Aronica, Dossena, Garcia, Morganella, Munoz, Von Bergen, Anselmo, Arevalo Rios, Donati, Ilicic, Kurtic, Sanseverino, Viola, Bollino, Dybala, Malele, Miccoli.

Lazio: Marchetti, Bizzarri, Carrizo ,Biava, Cavanda, Dias, Radu, Scaloni, Zauri, Ciani, Cana, Ledesma, Mauri, Candreva, Lulic, Gonzalez, Brocchi, Hernanes, Floccari, Kozak, Rozzi.