Palermo host Juventus at the Stadio Renzo Barbera in Serie A on Saturday, hoping to exact revenge for their away defeat to the Bianconeri earlier this season and take advantage of a looming distraction on the horizon for the Bianconeri.
Retribution will be difficult for coach Giuseppe Iachini’s men, as Juventus not only sit atop the standings with a commanding 11 point cushion, they have also amassed the most road points, scored the second most away goals and no squad has conceded fewer goals both at Juventus Stadium and in their travels than the Old Lady.
The Rosanero’s return to the top flight started dismally as it wasn’t until the seventh match before the Sicilians tasted victory. However, Iachini has benefited from president Maurizio Zamparini’s new-found patience and turned Palermo’s fortunes around with eight wins and eight draws in their last 20 matches.
Juventus, on the other hand, have continued their dominance and are well on their way to a fourth straight title but with a tricky Champions League Round-of-16 return leg away to Borussia Dortmund next week, one could forgive Massimiliano Allegri’s squad from looking past Palermo as European success has been the lone failing of the mighty Turin giants recent run of dominance.
Allegri is widely expected to rest leading scorer Carlos Tevez and Alvaro Morata in order to give Kingsley Coman only his third start of the season. Stefano Sturaro will deputize for one of Juve’s talismanic midfielders as Paul Pogba is suspended and Andrea Pirlo is still suffering from a calf injury.
While Paulo Dybala has garnered most of the attention and is central to Palermo’s attack, which is tied with Roma for sixth most goals in Serie A, Franco Vazquez and Enzo Maresca may hold the keys to unlock a stingy Juventus backbone.
Vazquez has enjoyed a breakout season both scoring and distributing for the Rosanero with an impressive seven goals and nine assists which are tops in Serie A. Meanwhile, the veteran Enzo Maresca is fully fit from a recent injury which kept the former Sampdoria man out of action for seven weeks.
The Rosanero are unlikely to be intimidated as despite conceding at least one goal in over 75% of their home matches, the Aquile have the fourth best home record in Serie A and have lost only a single match at the Stadio Barbera. Additionally, a win could catapult the side as high as seventh place and knocking on a European slot for next season.
Form guide: Palermo (D-D-L-W-L-W) Juventus (W-D-W-D-W-D)
Expected Starting XIs
Palermo: Sorrentino, Vitiello, Terzi, Andelkovic, Daprela, Rigoni, Maresca, Barreto, Quaison, Vazquez, Dybala
Juventus: Buffon, Padoin, Barzagli, Chiellini, De Ceglie, Vidal, Marchisio, Sturaro, Pereyra, Llorente, Coman
