Serie A leaders Inter Milan travel to Rome's Olympic Stadium Saturday night with the tough challenge of giving Lazio only their second home defeat of the season to hang on to a seven-point lead over Juventus and Milan.
Inter beat fourth-placed Napoli 2-1 in Milan last time out to make the first substantial break at the top but coach Jose' Mourinho is cautious.
''The championship isn't even at its half-way point
yet,'' he told reporters.
''Last week's win against Napoli is already forgotten''.
Mourinho is expected to play Brazil striker Adriano up front alongside Zlatan Ibrahimovic after the Brazilian striker got over a bout of flu.
Fifth-placed Lazio, who have the best home defensive record along with Inter, were boosted Wednesday night by beating Milan 2-1 to secure a place in the Italian Cup quarter-finals.
The Roman team are in joint fifth with Fiorentina on 23 points, ten behind Inter, after securing just one point from their last three league games.
But only Napoli have beaten them at home, 1-0 in October.
Milan, with just a point from their last two league games, will be hoping to resume the winning streak that briefly put them top of the table in their San Siro clash with 7th-placed Catania Sunday.
Kaka is back from a one-match ban and Andriy Shevchenko may be given another start after his fine goal against Lazio in the cup.
GATTUSO WANTS 'ALL BLACK SPIRIT'.
Midfielder Renato Gattuso, sidelined by injury, on Thursday urged his teammates to ''feel the All Black spirit'' after a visit to Milan by the New Zealand rugby team.
Juventus will be gearing up for next weekend's classic clash with Milan by visiting 16th-placed Lecce.
In the early game on Saturday, Roma hope to extend their three-game winning streak at bottom club Chievo.
Cagliari, joint 13th with Roma, host 10th-placed Palermo Sunday aware that the Sicilians are still on a high from last week's 3-1 home win against Milan.
Napoli, three points behind Juve and Milan and a point ahead of Lazio, will be looking for easy points against 12th-placed Siena at the San Paolo.
Atalanta, joint 10th with Palermo, welcome 9th-placed Udinese, while Fiorentina, joint fifth with Lazio, travel to 17th-placed Torino.
In the relegation zone, Reggina, 18th on 11 points, entertain Bologna, a point and position below them.
On Sunday night Genoa (7th) and Sampdoria (15th), aim to grab some of the limelight from the top teams in the Genoese derby.
Genoa's Argentine star Diego Milito, Serie A top scorer with 11 goals, will be looking to outshine Samp striker Antonio Cassano, in 6th place in the standings on five goals.
Samp, like Roma, have a game in hand and are hoping to repeat last season's achievement of bagging a UEFA Cup berth - achieved largely due to Cassano's sparkling form after a move from Real Madrid.
Milito, who joined Genoa from Real Zaragoza in the summer, has helped Italy's oldest club and nine-time Serie A winner stay in the top half of Serie A after promotion from Serie B last year.
Cassano, who won a last-minute place in Italy's Euro 2008 squad with his exciting football, is credited with making sure 1991 scudetto winners Samp have stayed away from the drop zone.
