Milan look to close gap

Inter boss Roberto Mancini started his coaching career as assistant to Sven-Goran Eriksson at Lazio and knows his team will be full of confidence after they qualified for the quarter finals of the Champions League after beating Ajax midweek.

However they would be delighted to finish above city rivals Milan - only two points ahead of Inter in the standings - and know that Lazio have European aspirations of their own.

Lazio have had a poor couple of seasons but have worked themselves into a great position for next season's UEFA Cup. They lie seventh, behind Livorno who are catchable. They beat Reggina 3-1 last week and know any result over Inter would complete their rebirth as a top Serie A side.

Second-bottom Lecce play Parma, who have pulled away from the bottom three with three wins in their last four matches.

Lecce are nine points away from safety, which is a huge disappointment for the side who parted company with manager Zdenek Zeman in the summer despite him leading them to mid-table last season.

Treviso are three points behind them, propping up a Serie A table that is rapdily slipping away from them, and they face a Cagliari also battling to avoid the drop, albeit from a somewhat better position.

Ascoli have no such fears, despite only being promoted because of Genoa and Torino's penalisation. They face a tricky away tie at fourth-placed Fiorentina on Sunday, although they did beat Roma last week.

Said victory has highlighted Roma's potentially spectacular fall after equalling the Serie A record for consecutive wins. They are yet to win in four matches since, excluding the 2-1 home win over Middlesbrough which saw them crash out of the UEFA Cup on away goals.

Siena have, like Parma, won three in four to put themselves in a decent position and face a Chievo team that still has an outside chance of UEFA Cup football.

Reggina host third-bottom Empoli while Palermo play Sampdoria in Genoa.