Juventus v Sampdoria – Preview: Old Lady look to tame high-flying Blucerchiati

Date: 13th December 2014 at 8:20pm
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Two of this season’s best performers go head to head at 12:30 CET on Sunday in Serie A as leaders Juventus take on fourth place Sampdoria at the Juventus Stadium.

The Blucerchiati are one of Serie A’s surprise packages this term with just one defeat all season, largely thanks to having the joint second best defensive record in the league.

The latest challenge for Sinisa Mihajlovic’s men comes in the shape of last season’s champions; the team with the best defensive and best goal scoring record in Italy this season.

Juve are three points clear of Roma at the top and have conceded just five goals all season, including only one in the last five games.

They have also been free scoring at the other end, with Carlos Tevez currently leading the scoring charts with nine of the Old Lady’s 30 Serie A goals. The Argentinean should replace Kingsley Coman in attack on Sunday after returning in Tuesday night’s Champions League match with Atletico Madrid.

The last two games though have seen Massimiliano Allegri’s side draw blanks, with a 0-0 draw at Fiorentina last Friday being followed by the 0-0 draw against Atletico.

Claudio Marchisio is set to replace Roberto Pereyra in midfield on Sunday whilst Angelo Ogbonna should play at centre-back in place of the suspended Giorgio Chiellini after Stephan Lichtsteiner returned in mid-week.

Long-term absentees Andrea Barzagli, Kwadwo Asamoah and Romulo though will again miss out, and the game comes too early for Martin Caceres who should return from a thigh injury in the next few weeks.

Both the Bianconeri and Sampdoria are unbeaten in their last five league games and their head to head record is even with two wins each and two draws in their last six meetings.

Sampdoria arrested a run of two straight draws last time out with a 3-1 win over ten-man Hellas Verona at the Stadio Marcantonio Bentegodi with a goal each from the in-form front three of Eder, Stefano Okaka and Manolo Gabbiadini.

The trio will again lead the line in Turin on Sunday with Mihajlovic boasting no injury worries ahead of the fixture, but he will have to do without the suspended Lorenzo De Silvestri at right-back.

Fabrizio Cacciatore is set to deputise, with Roberto Soriano and Pedro Obiang in line to replace Alfred Duncan and Luca Rizzo in midfield.

Expected Starting XIs

Juventus: Buffon, Lichtsteiner, Bonucci, Ogbonna, Evra, Pogba, Pirlo, Marchisio, Vidal, Llorente, Tevez

Sampdoria: Romero, Cacciatore, Silvestre, Romagnoli, Mesbah, Soriano, Palombo, Obiang, Gabbiadini, Okaka, Eder

 

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