Hard work is the order of the day for Rudi Garcia's Roma squad, who are targeting a return to winning ways at Torino.
The Giallorossi - last season's runners-up in Serie A - are only four points behind leaders Napoli but might really have hoped to be out in front themselves at this stage.
A frustrating draw at promoted Bologna and surprise home defeat to Atalanta have thrown Roma wildly off course with resurgent Juventus now threatening to dislodge them from fourth place.
Torino are in better form but have not beaten Roma at their Stadio Olimpico in a league game since 1990, with the capital club unbeaten in the last 14 showdowns in Turin.
And Garcia has put his under-performing players to work on a plan to master Toro once again.
"We can only get out of this slump by working extra hard during the week and then getting a result at the end of it," he told asroma.it.
"We have to fight, be competitive and united, and that will help us concede fewer goals while we continue to score plenty.
"We must not lose our quality in attack but the fact we have so many forwards out injured means we have to work harder on the defensive planning."
Later on Saturday night Inter Milan have an opportunity to return to top spot by beating Genoa at San Siro. The Nerazzurri were replaced by Napoli after losing 2-1 at the Stadio San Paolo last weekend.
Should Napoli be leapfrogged, they can respond almost instantly as they visit Bologna for Sunday's early kick-off.
Luigi Delneri, who made his name with Chievo at the turn of the century, takes charge of their city rivals Hellas Verona for the first time when Empoli visit the Stadio Marc'Antonio Bentegodi.
Hellas remain winless after 14 games of the season, with Andrea Mandorlini's five-year tenure finally coming to an end on Monday. The Gialloblu are eight points from safety having collected only six.
Just above them are Carpi, whose fans will get to see AC Milan up close and personal in Modena on Sunday night, while Fiorentina look to stay in the title race with a positive home result over Udinese.
Atalanta entertain Palermo. The Sicilians were dumped out of the Coppa Italia by lower-league Alessandria on Wednesday and Davide Ballardini's men are not out of relegation trouble yet.
Elsewhere, struggling Frosinone are at home to Chievo and Vincenzo Montella's Sampdoria play host to upwardly-mobile Sassuolo.
Source: PA-WIRE
