Hello and welcome to Eurosport's coverage of Serie A's Derby della Capitale between home side Roma and Lazio at the Stadio Olimpico. This is Nick Royle (@nickaroyle) taking you through all the action from Rome.

CHANCE! Astori gives the ball away and the ball finds Candreva down the left. He cuts inside but his shot whistles wide off Morgan de Sanctis' goal.

Roma are unable to make anything of the attack and Marchetti is out to catch the cross. There is no flow at all to this game so far.

De Vrij fouls Totti down the Roma right. Maicon then wins a throw off Stefan Radu down the right.

Roma soon win the ball back and play some possession football in midfield. Florenzi is unable to keep hold of a ball down the channel by Totti.

Anderson wins the throw down the Lazio left. Then another whistle from Orsato for a foul in the centre circle and Lazio have a chance to knock the ball into the Roma box.

It's a bitty start in the Stadio Olimpico so far. Filip Djordevic is caught offside as Astori steps up.

Lucas Biglia concedes another foul in the centre of the pitch, but De Rossi is unable to control the free-kick into the Lazio area.

Lorik Cana fouls Totti in the centre circle, and De Rossi's pass finds Iturbe but the Roma striker is robbed in the area.

Lazio counter-attack after de Vrij robs Nainggolan in midfield, but Candreva drags his shot wide.

Referee Daniele Orsato blows the whistle and Lazio kick off from left to right.

It is certainly noisy at the Olimpico.

Lazio captain Stefano Mauri believes the derby is the biggest match of Biancocelesti season.

“All derbies are special, but in Rome it really is seen a different way,” the midfielder told Sky Sport Italia. “It is a very important match, fundamental for our season. We will step on to the field eager to take the initiative and play our game.

Leaders Juventus do not play Napoli at Stadio San Paolo until Sunday evening, and Roma boss Rudi Garcia admits that the chance to go top of Serie A with a win over Lazio has fired up his team.

“In training I had to hold my players back. We must pour all our intensity out tomorrow afternoon and not before. I have very experienced players who are eager to win,” he said.

Maicon also says that Juventus are dropping points in games this season that they would have won last term.

"As for Juventus, there’s not much difference, they’re having a similar season to last term but this year I think they’ve dropped points in games which last year they didn’t and that can be an important point in our favour,” he said.

Roma defender Maicon believes that Roma have improved this season and have narrowed the gap in quality with the current champions of Italy, Juventus.

“We’ve brought more quality into the squad, we’ve grown,” he said.

Five Roma players are making their debut in the Derby della Capitale today, including three of the back four.

Lazio go into the match unbeaten in their last six fixtures in all competitions, while Roma have won five and drawn two of their least seven Serie A games since the 2-0 defeat at Napoli at the start of November.

Second-placed Roma closed the gap on Serie A leaders Juventus to one point with Tuesday's 1-0 win at Udinese. Davide Astori scored the only goal of the game at the Stadio Friuli with a header which bounced down off the underside of the crossbar and marginally over the goal-line.

ROMA: De Sanctis, Maicon, Manolas, Astori, Holebas, Pjanic, De Rossi, Nainggolan, Florenzi, Totti, Iturbe. Subs: Skorupski, Lobont, Somma, Yanga Mbiwa, Cole, Torosidis, Emanuelson, Strootman, Paredes, Ljajic, Destro, Borriello, Verde./// LAZIO: Marchetti, Basta, De Vrij, Cana, Radu, Parolo, Biglia, Mauri, Candreva, Djordjevic, Felipe Anderson. Subs: Berisha, Strakosha, Pereirinha, Konko, Novaretti, Cavanda, Ledesma, Onazi, Cataldi, Keita, Klose

Lazio are tied for third with Napoli in Serie A, nine points adrift of their city rivals Roma in second. Felipe Anderson scored one and set up two more as Stefano Pioli's side stretched their unbeaten league run to five games with a 3-0 victory over Sampdoria on L'Epifania on Tuesday.

Lazio have made just one change from the side that beat Sampdoria 3-0 on Tuesday, with Antonio Candreva replacing the injured Senad Lulic.