Juventus will be looking to stretch their lead at the top of Serie A to four points when they resume their 2019-20 campaign away to mid-table Bologna on Monday night.
The Italian champions have won their last three in the league and sit a point above second-placed Lazio at the summit, while Bologna are currently 10th in the table with 34 points to their name.
Match preview
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Bologna finished 10th in Serie A last season, which was their highest position in Italy's top flight since 2011-12. The Red and Blues have enjoyed another productive campaign thus far and currently sit 10th in the division, just five points off sixth-placed Napoli on the same number of matches.
Sinisa Mihajlovic's side have lost two of their last three league games, though, including a 2-0 defeat at Lazio in their last game at the end of February.
Bologna also suffered a 3-0 home defeat to Genoa shortly before the campaign was postponed, while their recent record against Juve will not fill their supporters with too much confidence ahead of this match.
Indeed, I Rossoblu have lost each of their last seven Serie A games with the Old Lady, while they have not beaten the reigning champions since February 2011.
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Juve, as mentioned, are currently one point clear at the top of Serie A, while they have won their last three in the league, including a 2-0 home success over Inter Milan on March 8.
The Old Lady will enter this match off the back of a disappointing result, though, having lost to Napoli on penalties in the final of the Coppa Italia on Wednesday night.
Maurizio Sarri's side had drawn 0-0 with AC Milan in the second leg of their semi-final on June 12 to book their spot in the final, but they drew another blank before ultimately losing on spot kicks.
Juve must now switch their attention back to the league, and they have the chance to open up a four-point lead over second-placed Lazio, who are in action against Atalanta BC on Wednesday night.
I Bianconeri have the best home record in Serie A this term but only the fourth-best away record, with all three of their league defeats during the 2019-20 campaign coming on their travels, which might hand Bologna confidence ahead of what should be an interesting game at Stadio Renato Dall'Ara.
Bologna Serie A form: WWWLDL
Juventus Serie A form: LWLWWW
Juventus form (all competitions): WWLWDL
Team News
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Bologna have three players suspended for Monday's clash, with Mattia Bani, Federico Santander and Jerdy Schouten all banned due to the bookings that they picked up against Lazio last time out.
Andreas Skov Olsen is also out through injury, meaning that the home side will be far from at full strength for the clash with the reigning champions.
Riccardo Orsolini is Bologna's leading scorer in the league this season with seven, and the 23-year-old is expected to feature in an attacking spot alongside Musa Barrow and Rodrigo Palacio.
As for Juve, Alex Sandro, Sami Khedira and Gonzalo Higuain will all miss out through injury, while Giorgio Chiellini and Gonzalo Higuain are doubts after missing out against Napoli.
Sandro's spot at left-back could be taken by Mattia De Sciglio, while there is likely to be a change between the sticks with Wojciech Szczesny replacing Gianluigi Buffon.
Aaron Ramsey proved his fitness by appearing off the bench on Wednesday, but Miralem Pjanic should keep his spot in midfield despite the speculation surrounding his future.
Douglas Costa is also expected to feature alongside Cristiano Ronaldo and Paulo Dybala in the final third, with Higuain potentially making the bench if he can overcome a thigh complaint.
Bologna possible starting lineup:
Skorupski; Tomiyasu, Danilo, Denswil, Dijks; Medel, Poli; Barrow, Soriano, Orsolini; Palacio
Juventus possible starting lineup:
Szczesny; Cuadrado, De Ligt, Bonucci, De Sciglio; Bentancur, Pjanic, Matuidi; Ronaldo, Dybala, Costa
We say: Bologna 0-2 Juventus
Bologna are certainly capable of making it an uncomfortable 90 minutes for Juve, but it is difficult to back against the champions, who will be keen to bounce back from the disappointment of the Coppa Italia final. We fancy Sarri's side to collect all three points in relatively routine fashion.
Matt Law
Data Analysis
Our analysis of all available data, including recent performances and player stats up until an hour before kickoff, suggested the most likely outcome of this match was a Juventus win with a probability of 51.06%. A win for Bologna had a probability of 25.5% and a draw had a probability of 23.4%.
The most likely scoreline for a Juventus win was 1-2 with a probability of 9.67%. The next most likely scorelines for that outcome were 0-1 (9.3%) and 0-2 (8.2%). The likeliest Bologna win was 2-1 (6.47%), while for a drawn scoreline it was 1-1 (10.96%). The actual scoreline of 0-2 was predicted with an 8.2% likelihood. Our data analysis correctly predicted that Juventus would win this match.
