Juventus will be hoping to widen the points gap between them and second place Lazio when the two sides face off in Turin on Saturday, which will be a preview of the Coppa Italia final set to take place on June 6.
The Bianconeri currently have a comfortable 12 point lead over the Aquilotti in the Serie A standings, but will have had less time to rest for the battle with the capital city club following their 1-0 Champions League quarter-final win over Monaco on Tuesday.
Despite their success in Italy and Europe throughout the season the Old Lady are also coming off of a shocking 1-0 loss to last place Parma on April 11, which was only their second defeat of the entire season.
The Biancocelesti have been in top form in recent months as they’re currently undefeated in their last 10 matches in all competitions with nine of those results coming as wins, and have now robbed second place from rivals Roma following their dominant 4-0 win over Empoli on April 12.
Stefano Pioli’s men have also won their last four league matches on the road, though Juve have proven to be a tough obstacle to overcome in Turin.
Juventus have a major advantage over Lazio when you look at the match history between the two teams with the Stadio Olimpico outfit securing just one win in their last 15 meetings with the Old Lady in all competitions, which came in a 2-1 result during a Coppa Italia clash in January 2013.
This season’s previous meeting between the Italian clubs ended in a 3-0 win for Massimiliano Allegri’s men back in November.
Allegri will have most of his starting players at his disposal for the battle with Lazio, though he is still expected to be missing Kwadwo Asamoah, Romulo, Martin Caceres and star midfielder Paul Pogba.
Angelo Ogbonna will be out serving a one-match ban, while Claudio Marchisio, Arturo Vidal, Paolo De De Ceglie, Stephan Lichtsteiner, Roberto Pereyra and Leonardo Bonucci all sit on the verge of earning suspensions of their own.
Biancocelesti boss Pioli will have to deal with a number of absences as he prepares his squad for the challenge in Turin with Santiago Gentiletti, Filip Djordjevic, Stefan de Vrij, Stefan Radu, Marco Parolo and Abdoulay Konko all set to miss out on the match.
Diego Novaretti and Luis Cavanda will both be out serving suspensions, while De Vrij, Ogenyi Onazi, Radu, Keita Balde Diao and Miroslav Klose are one yellow card away from picking up bans.
Form Guide: Juventus (L-W-W-W-W-D) Lazio (W-W-W-W-W-W)
Expected Starting XIs
Juventus: Buffon; Padoin, Chiellini, Bonucci, Lichtsteiner; Sturaro, Marchisio, Vidal; Pereyra; Tevez, Llorente.
Lazio: Marchetti; Lulic, Mauricio, Cana, Basta; Mauri, Biglia, Cataldi; Felipe Anderson, Klose, Candreva.
