Edin Dzeko, Mohamed Salah ensure Roma don't miss Francesco Totti

If Roma's players were affected by the row that exploded between coach Luciano Spalletti and club legend Francesco Totti, they certainly didn't show it on Sunday night. A 5-0 hammering of Sicilian travelling circus Palermo gave the Giallorossi their fifth straight win to keep them in fourth position, two points from the Champions League places, and let their captain know that they can get on just fine without him.

Spalletti dumped Totti out of the squad after he made his discontent both at not playing and a lack of contract extension public on the evening news, and with Totti looking on from the stands, Roma's other attackers went to town on poor old Palermo, with Edin Dzeko and Mohamed Salah both scoring twice and Seydou Keita bagging his first of the season.

The chanting of Totti's name that came at the start faded away and were replaced with cheers for man-of-the-match Dzeko and the return of Kevin Strootman, who ended his knee injury nightmare with a sedate 13 minutes in a match that had been long since won.

What Totti saw on Sunday was a team that doesn't revolve around him like it once did. Dzeko topped and tailed this routine win in the 30th and 89th minutes with a smart left-foot finish -- just seconds after possibly the miss of the season -- and a bullet header, while Salah's brace was possibly even better.

The Egyptian smashed home Dzeko's delicate flick from an acute angle to make it three on the hour and curled in an impossible-looking second from the byline just two minutes later. January signing Diego Perotti got in on the act with the cross for Dzeko's second, while Miralem Pjanic excelled in a more advanced role alongside Salah, setting up his compatriot's opener and offering the sort of creativity with which Totti made his career.