Roma ended a run of five games without victory against their near-neighbours with a 2-0 home win last season, and went on to claim a goalless draw in the return fixture.
With leaders Juventus only a point clear of Garcia's men in Serie A, the capital club could go top of the table with a win on Sunday – albeit briefly ahead of Juve's game at Napoli later that evening.
Tuesday's 1-0 win over Udinese gave Roma ideal preparation for a derby clash, and Garcia revealed at his press briefing that he has needed to keep his players' enthusiasm in check to ensure they are ready.
"The squad looked motivated in training and they have the desire to put in a good performance," he said. "I had to slow the guys down a bit. There was so much intensity in training. We need to put that into tomorrow's match
"The derby is worth three points and we want to be top come the end of the match. Our aim is to win the game
"Our target is not only the derby, we also want to finish top come the end of the season.
"We need to make sure we take the game to Lazio and are efficient so we can win the match
"Lazio are a good, aggressive side with excellent players. They score goals and have quality in the team."
