Serie A: Lazio vs Juventus preview

Serie A defending champions and leaders Juventus have a tough match on Sunday, they visit sixth-placed Lazio at the Olympic Stadium in Rome. The reverse fixture, played in August, brought a 2-0 victory for Juventus with goals from Miralem Pjanic and Mario Mandzukic. Last season Juventus defeated Lazio 1-0 in Rome with a stoppage-time goal from Paulo Dybala, but Lazio managed to pull off a surprising 2-1 victory in Turin thanks to a double from striker Ciro Immobile. Overall, Juventus have won four of the last six direct matches in all competitions, while Lazio have won two. Lazio are hoping to finish in the top four in Serie A for the first time since the 2014-2015 season, but last weekend's 2-1 defeat at Napoli damaged those prospects. That result dropped them to sixth place, allowing both AC Milan and Roma to leapfrog them. However, fourth-placed AC Milan are just two points ahead, definitely within reach if Lazio manage to put together a good string of results. The defeat at Napoli ended their four-match unbeaten streak in all competitions. Adam Marusic and Francesco Acerbi are suspended for Sunday's match, while Luiz Felipe is injured. Juventus are marching towards their eighth consecutive Serie A title, they have a nine-point lead over second-placed Napoli at the top of the table and look as strong as ever. Last week they collected their first trophy of the season, the Italian Super Cup, after a 1-0 victory over AC Milan in Jeddah. On Monday they returned to Serie A duty with a 3-0 victory over last-placed Chievo, in a match which saw Cristiano Ronaldo miss a penalty kick. Juan Cuadrado, Andrea Barzagli, Mario Mandzukic and Medhi Benatia are all out injured, while Miralem Pjanic, Joao Cancelo and Sami Khedira are all doubts. Such a long list of injuries could pose problems to most teams, but Juventus have a very deep squad that can handle such situations. Probable line-ups: Lazio: Strakosha - Bastos, Wallace, Radu - Lulic, Milinkovic-Savic, Leiva, Parolo, Lukaku - Alberto - Immobile Juventus: Szczesny - De Sciglio, Bonucci, Chiellini, Sandro - Can, Bentancur, Matuidi - Dybala, Ronaldo, Costa My prediction: Juventus to win 2-1, it will be a difficult match for the Bianconeri but they should be able to get all three points. Here are the odds for the match at Bet365: Lazio win - 4.20 Draw - 3.50 Juventus win - 1.90