The top two teams in the Italian Serie A clash on Saturday evening as leaders Juventus host second-placed AS Roma at the Juventus Stadium in Turin. Last season Juventus defeated Roma 1-0 at home but lost the away game 2-1. Roma have not won a league match at Juventus since 2010, while the recent head-to-head record shows four wins for Juventus out of the last six meetings and just one for Roma.
Juventus are still dominating the Italian top flight but not as convincingly as last season, they have already lost three games so far and only hold a four-point advantage over Roma at the top of the table. Victory in Saturday's match would put some more daylight between Massimiliano Allegri's men and their rivals and ease the concerns of their fans. Last week Juventus secured a comfortable 3-1 victory in the city derby against Torino, even though they had to fight back from 1-0 down. Dani Alves and Leonardo Bonucci are still on the injured list.
Roma are having a solid season so far, the only difference between them and Juventus is that they have recorded two draws so far along with three defeats. Last week they won the battle for second place with AC Milan, it ended 1-0 at the Olympic Stadium in Rome, with the visitors missing a penalty kick. That was their third consecutive league win, a run that includes the 2-0 derby victory over Lazio. Leonardo Paredes and Alessandro Florenzi are out injured, while Mohammed Salah might recover in time for the match.
Probable line-ups:
Juventus: Buffon - Lichtsteiner, Barzagli, Chiellini, Sandro - Khedira, Marchisio, Sturaro - Pjanic - Mandzukic, Higuain
Roma: Szczesny - Rudiger, Fazio, Manolas, Emerson - De Rossi, Strootman - Perotti, Nainggolan, El Shaarawy - Dzeko
My prediction: 1-1 draw.
Here are the odds for the match at Bet365:
Juventus win - 1.70
Draw - 3.60
Roma win - 5.00
12/21/16, 02:12:32 AM
