Roma v Udinese

Roma coach Claudio Ranieri has warned his players they must be on their guard to counter the attacking threat of Udinese when the two sides meet tomorrow.

Sixth-place Roma will be favourites as they are unbeaten at the Stadio Olimpico and have won their last four league games in the Eternal City.

Ranieri, however, knows his side cannot afford to underestimate the potency of the Bianconeri attack.

He said: "Udinese have recovered well from their slow start to the campaign and have some great tools at their disposal.

"They have very good players forward that can create a lot of problems for us.

"Antonio Di Natale is a quick player with great technical ability and he has the quality to make the difference.

"Floro Flores is also dangerous.

"This is going to be a difficult game, a test for us.

"We have to make sure we don't give Udinese any spaces."

Udinese bounced back from a 1-0 defeat at Catania with a convincing 4-0 triumph over Lecce last weekend.

Di Natale's hat-trick fired the Friuli outfit to its fifth win of the campaign and lifted Udinese just two points behind Roma.

"We played a great game against Lecce," said Udinese coach Francesco Guidolin. "My team showed balance at both ends of the pitch.

"Now we must show the same focus when we face Roma."

Roma will be without injured Daniele De Rossi, Simone Perrotta and John Arne Riise but will be bolstered by the return of Philippe Mexes and David Pizarro.

Roma captain Francesco Totti could rest in view of Tuesday's Champions League match against Bayern Munich, leaving Mirko Vucinic to partner Marco Borriello in attack.