SPAL v Juventus: Probable Line-Ups and Key Statistics

Date: 21st February 2020 at 9:00am
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Juventus aim to pick up their first win over SPAL on the road since the turn of the century at the third attempt when they travel to Ferrara on Saturday afternoon.

PROBABLE LINE-UPS

SPAL (4-3-3): Berisha; Cionek, Bonifazi, Zukanovic, Reca; Missiroli, Valdifiori, Castro; Di Francesco, Petagna, Valoti.

Unavailable: D’Alessandro, Cerri, Dabo, Vicari.

Juventus (4-3-3): Szczesny; Danilo, Rugani, De Ligt, Sandro; Ramsey, Bentancur, Matuidi; Cuadrado, Higuain, Ronaldo.

Suspended: Bonucci.

Unavailable: Khedira, Demiral, Costa, Pjanic.

KEY STATISTICS

– Juventus have won three of their five meetings in the 2000s against SPAL in Serie A (D1, L1), including the most recent fixture (2-0 in September) and keeping a clean sheet in three of these games.

– SPAL are unbeaten at home in the 21st century against Juventus in Serie A, thanks to a 0-0 draw in March 2018 and a 2-1 win in April 2019.

– The last team to defeat an opponent with at least 41 points more in the league standings was SPAL against Juventus last April: since then, there’s been four wins for the team ahead in the standings (2 Napoli, 1 Juventus, 1 Inter).

– Each of the last five games between first and last team in the standings at the beginning of a Serie A matchday ended with the leaders’ enjoying a victory – the last defeat for the team in first place was Juventus against Verona in May 2016, with the Bianconeri having already been crowned champions.

– SPAL have won 15 points in this Serie A season; only one of the previous 18 teams with this number of points after 24 Serie A games (in the three points era) avoided relegation (Crotone in 2016/17).

– Juventus have lost three of the last five league games (W2) including the last two; the last time the Bianconeri lost three consecutive away matches in Serie A was in April 2010 under Alberto Zaccheroni.

– SPAL have landed the fewest shots on target this season (83), while only Atalanta (188) have had more shots on goal than Juventus (154).

– Andrea Petagna, who has scored nine goals, can become the first ever player to reach double figures for goals in two different Serie A seasons with SPAL – however he has never scored against Juventus in the competition.

– Juventus’ Cristiano Ronaldo, who has made 999 career appearances in his professional career at club and international level, is one goal away from matching Manuel Rui Costa (42) as the highest Portuguese scorer in Serie A history.

– Juventus striker Cristiano Ronaldo has scored in 10 consecutive games, with a goal in this fixture he will equal the record of scoring in 11 games in a row in a single Serie A season, currently shared by Gabriel Batistuta and Fabio Quagliarella.

 

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