Preview: Juventus vs. Lazio – prediction, team news, lineups

Juventus search to maintain their Scudetto defence alive on Saturday night, as they welcome a Lazio aspect that would draw to inside three factors of the hosts with victory in Turin.

Following an inconsistent spell, the champions are in peril of shedding contact with table-topping Inter, whereas the Aquile are determined to stay within the combine for a European place on the finish of the season.

Match preview

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Forward of their hard-fought midweek victory over Serie A debutants Spezia, Juventus had solely received one in all their final 5 video games in all competitions – having received every of the earlier six. A primary hour which might feasibly have gone both means was adopted by a tension-relieving three-goal haul within the ultimate half-hour on the Allianz Stadium, as Juve finally emerged victorious within the battle of the Bianconeri.

With doubtlessly definitive fixtures – first towards Lazio after which versus Porto (as Juventus search to show round a 2-1 deficit within the Champions League) to return within the subsequent few days, under-pressure coach Andrea Pirlo was acutely conscious that there could possibly be no excuses for failing to place away extra modest opposition in midweek.

As affirmation was given to a brand new date for the controversially postponed sport with Napoli – now to be held in a fortnight’s time – the champions should get again to their ruthless better of years previous, although they’ve solely ever finished so intermittently this time period.

Regardless of their difficulties of late, Juventus have received their final six Serie A house matches, scoring a minimum of twice on every event (17 in whole) and preserving a clear sheet in the latest 4. In reality, all season lengthy, Pirlo’s males have typically been a troublesome proposition on dwelling soil, with 9 wins and two attracts from 12 league contests at their state-of-the-art dwelling.

Maybe unsurprisingly, given the assets Pirlo has needed to work with – even amid a defensive harm disaster – Juventus additionally boast one of the best defence within the league, with solely two targets conceded within the final seven outings. Once more, at dwelling, their stats are much more pleasing on the attention, with a report of simply eight targets towards all season.

On the different finish of the pitch, one man continues to paved the way for the Bianconeri and stays solely irreplaceable. Along with his late strike on Tuesday, prime scorer and Capocannoniere contender Cristiano Ronaldo – now on 20 Serie A targets within the 2020/21 marketing campaign to this point – grew to become the primary participant within the prime 5 European leagues to register a minimum of 20 league targets in every of the final 12 seasons; a testomony to his immutable consistency over time.

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Having endured a saga similar to that of Juventus final autumn, after they turned as much as face a no-show Napoli aspect, Lazio have had further time on the coaching pitch to arrange for his or her journey to Turin.

Set to face the town’s second aspect on Friday night time, the sport was ultimately postponed simply forward of kickoff, as virus-stricken Torino had been banned from travelling to Rome by the native public well being authorities. Although Lazio and the refereeing group dutifully arrived at Stadio Olimpico for the ‘ghost sport’, the farce was swiftly concluded quickly after.

Curiously, although Simone Inzaghi‘s males are prone to be awarded an computerized 3-0 victory – naturally, Torino could have the suitable to attraction – one of many video games being investigated for irregularities in their very own COVID-19 testing programme was the reverse fixture earlier this season, which might ultimately see Lazio docked three factors – which might then be handed to the Granata.

Such off-pitch controversy apart, Lazio’s final look correct within the prime flight noticed them crushed 2-0 by Bologna at Dall’Ara final weekend, leaving them in seventh place and with work to do to be able to hold tempo with the opposite contestants for European soccer subsequent season.

Maybe nonetheless feeling the consequences of their Champions League collapse at dwelling to Bayern Munich, prime scorer Ciro Immobile‘s uncharacteristically weak first-half penalty was saved by Bologna goalkeeper Lukasz Skorupski and simply minutes later Bologna took an sudden lead, which they might by no means relinquish.

After that disappointing defeat in Emilia, the Aquile have now misplaced two of their final three league video games – as many as that they had within the earlier 12 – and suffered that morale-crushing thumping by Bayern.

They may, nonetheless, have fond reminiscences of the thrilling conclusion to their final assembly with Juventus, in November, which resulted in a 1-1 draw when tremendous sub Felipe Caicedo scored the equalising aim for the Biancocelesti deep into stoppage time.

Juventus Serie A kind: WWLWDW
Juventus kind (all competitions): DLLWDW

Lazio Serie A kind: WWWLWL
Lazio kind (all competitions): WWLWLL

Group Information

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The injury-hit Juventus rearguard will stay undermanned on Saturday night, as Andrea Pirlo is as soon as extra set to be with out the injured Giorgio Chiellini, whereas each Leonardo Bonucci and Juan Cuadrado are uncertain and full-back Gianluca Frabotta is suspended after selecting up one other yellow card towards Spezia. Nonetheless, Matthijs de Ligt has reportedly recovered from the knock which triggered him to overlook Tuesday’s sport, so ought to accomplice Merih Demiral in central defence, permitting Alex Sandro to modify again to the left flank.

Harm-plagued ahead Paulo Dybala and midfielder Arthur are additionally anticipated to stay sidelined via harm, whereas Weston McKennie will look to rejoice signing a everlasting deal after a profitable mortgage spell by preserving his place within the XI, on the expense of hit-and-miss midfield choice Aaron Ramsey.

Lazio wing-back Manuel Lazzari will sit out Saturday night’s occasions with a calf harm which he picked up within the loss at Bologna final weekend, whereas injured defenders Luiz Felipe and Stefan Radu are longer-term absences.

Extra generally a midfielder, Marco Parolo is predicted to compete with error-prone Wesley Hoedt and January signing Mateo Musacchio for a spot in Simone Inzaghi’s patched-up again three, alongside Patric and Francesco Acerbi. Gonzalo Escalante returns from a ban, however will probably play second fiddle to Lucas Leiva in central midfield.

Following his penalty miss at Dall’Ara, final yr’s Capocannoniere Ciro Motionless has scored solely as soon as in his previous 5 matches, however will begin alongside favoured foil Joaquin Correa in assault.

Juventus doable beginning lineup:
Szczesny; Danilo, Demiral, De Ligt, Sandro; Chiesa, Bentancur, Rabiot, McKennie; Kulusevski, Ronaldo

Lazio doable beginning lineup:
Reina; Patric, Parolo, Acerbi; Marusic, Milinkovic-Savic, Leiva, Alberto, Lulic; Correa, Motionless

We are saying: Juventus 2-1 Lazio

Juventus are notably impenetrable on Turin turf and a seventh straight dwelling win within the league is actually on the playing cards towards a stumbling Lazio aspect – although maybe half an eye fixed could stray in the direction of their upcoming combat for Champions League survival subsequent week.

The guests, in the meantime, are eager to scrub away the troubles of the previous fortnight and hold themselves in competition for a return to European competitors subsequent season. If they will stem a current flood of self-inflicted defensive errors, then the Biancocelesti could actually have a shot at gleaning a degree from one of many hardest fixtures within the diary.