The Romans need to fix the head-to-head stats.
Good to know about Juventus
– The “Old Lady” dropped out of the Serie A title race ahead of schedule – non-football affairs again intervened. This time the Italian giant’s financial machinations were exposed and 15 points were stripped from the club in the domestic league. Now Juve is in the company of Fiorentina and Salernitana, and the delay from Napoli is 30 points. It would also be a miracle to get into the European Cup – for this you need to win back 13 points (Roma have 37 points from 6th place).
– Paul Pogba is slowly making his way back into the squad. In the match with Monza, the Frenchman was in Turin’s bid for the first time. During his entire stay at Juventus, the midfielder managed to play 1 half of a friendly match in July, after which he fell ill from a serious injury sustained in training. Now his help is particularly needed by Massimiliano Allegri: the bianconeri have difficulty both creating and scoring chances. The team’s main center forward Dusan Vlahovic has just recovered from an injury, in his absence the coach is forced to pair strikers Angel Di Maria and Moise Kin / Arkadiusz Milik.
– Just in time for Vlahovic to return to service, Milik injured his semimembranosus muscle in his thigh. The Polish striker will miss at least two weeks. Prior to that, Juve reported Leonardo Bonucci’s injury – he was out for a month. In the current situation, it is difficult to imagine that the “old lady” can prepare for the return of the European cups.
– The club’s statistics are not encouraging. The bianconeri have played 6 games since the resumption of the championship, losing 2, winning the third and drawing once. The most offensive looks like 0:2 from Monza. This team only played in the second division of the Italian championship a year ago, and is now content with 11th place in Serie A. Juve will also have to fight to get back to the top, but the news on points subtraction, it seems, it affected the “old lady” players too much.
Estimated formation of Juventus (3-5-2): Perin – Gatti, Bremer, Danilo – Ealing, Paredes, Fagioli, Miretti, McKenny – Keene, Di Maria.
Good to know about Lazio
– The Eagles have no problems with Juventus – in the national championship they continue to chase Inter (the run-up to Napoli is essentially over). The interest in this race adds the fact that between the 2nd and 6th teams in Serie A there are only 3 points of difference. Furthermore, three teams each have 38 points, including Lazio, Atalanta and Milan.
– Maurizio Sarri has done a good job of building up the squad – Lazio haven’t lost a single match since the defeat to Lecce in early January. During this period, the blue-and-whites defeated Milan and shared points with Fiorentina, won a victory over Bologna, Sassuolo and drew with Empoli.
– In the January segment, the longtime leader of the Romans, Ciro Immobile, went into the shadows. In the previous 4 matches he scored only once – against Lecce (1: 2). Probably his age has an influence (the Italian is already 32 years old), but even so his stats are impressive: 7 goals and 3 assists in 15 league matches. At that moment Mattia Zaccagni came to the fore, scoring against Empoli, Sassuolo and Milan. Along with him, the team’s top scorer at this stage is Felipe Anderson – the Brazilian scored in four games in a row, his streak was broken only in the match with Fiorentina.
– Unlike competitors in the fight for medals, Maurizio Sarri’s wards are not plagued by injuries or recessions in the game – they have been in the top 5 since the second half of September. The main backbone is in the ranks and you don’t have to look for those to patch the holes with.
– In the winter, the club bosses decided to do without serious reinforcements, relatively important acquisitions – only the loan of 23-year-old left-back Luca Pellegrini from Juventus. The Eagles have problems with this position, where Sarri puts the right profile on the edge of Adam Marusic and Elseid Hyusay.
Estimated composition of Lazio (4-3-3): Mashimianu – Hysay, Romagnoli, Cazale, Marusic – Milinkovic-Savic, Cataldi, Alberto – Zaccagni, Anderson, Pedro.
Good to know about the comparison
– No matter how deep the Juventus crisis is, the team still achieves the necessary result in matches with Lazio – the last time the rivals met was in November 2022, then the “old lady” scored 3 goals without answer. Before that, it was 2:2 in May and 0:2 in November 2021. The Eagles defeated the black and white for the last time at the end of 2019 – and twice at the same time. First – in the league, then – in the Super Bowl.
– In the previous 20 games, Juve have beaten Lazio 14 times, while the Romans have won only four.
– The clubs play attacking football: there hasn’t been a minimum of 1-0 in their matches since 2018.
Forecast Football.it: usually any Juventus is able to upset the biancozurri. But not right now. Maurizio Sarri’s wards are in excellent shape, there are practically no injured players in the base, unlike the “old lady”. Both in morale and in the selection of available players, the Romans seem preferable. It’s not worth waiting for Paul Pogba’s first appearance in a Torino shirt – the club’s mentor says the Frenchman is still in pain after recovery. It is therefore difficult for Massimiliano Allegri’s team to escape defeat.
