Juventus will be looking to reclaim first position in Serie A from Inter Milan when they welcome relegation-threatened Brescia to Turin on Sunday afternoon.
The Old Lady have lost two of their last three in the league to relinquish first spot in the table, while Brescia currently sit 19th with just 16 points from their 23 matches.
Match preview
© Reuters
Juve have won Serie A in each of the last eight seasons, but it does appear that the Old Lady will face a serious challenge to claim a ninth straight title come the end of the 2019-20 campaign.
Indeed, just one point separates leaders Inter from third-placed Lazio, with Juve currently in the middle. All three will fancy their chances of finishing top of the pile come the end of the season, but Maurizio Sarri's side will, for the moment, just be focused on returning to winning ways this weekend.
The Old Lady have lost two of their last three in the league to Napoli and Hellas Verona, while they played out a 1-1 draw with AC Milan in the first leg of their Coppa Italia semi-final on Thursday night.
It would be fair to say that it has not been plain sailing for Sarri this season, although a win on Sunday afternoon would see them return to the summit as Lazio and Inter do not lock horns until Sunday night.
Cristiano Ronaldo scored against Milan on Thursday to make it 24 goals for the Italian champions this season, meanwhile, including 20 in 20 Serie A appearances as the 35-year-old continues to show his class.
© Reuters
Heading to Turin this weekend is a Brescia side that are without a win in their last eight league matches. Indeed, not since December 14 against Lecce have the White and Blues managed to pick up all three points, losing five times since then to leave themselves struggling in the relegation zone.
Diego Lopez is now in charge of the Italian club following the dismissal of Eugenio Corini earlier this month, and the South American started his tenure with a 1-1 draw at home to Udinese last weekend.
Brescia are still 19th in the table, though, six points from the safety of 17th position, which is a concern when considering their next two in the league are against Juve and a revitalised Napoli.
Le Rondinelle do have some big talents in their squad, though, with Sandro Tonali regarded as one of the best youngsters in European football, while a certain Mario Balotelli will surely relish the chance to potentially get one over on Juve this weekend.
Juventus Serie A form: WWWLWL
Juventus form (all competitions): WWLWLD
Brescia Serie A form: LLDLLD
Team News
© Reuters
Juve will again be without the services of Federico Bernardeschi, Merih Demiral, Sami Khedira and Giorgio Chiellini through injury, while Douglas Costa is out until March with the muscular issue that he picked up against Verona.
Rodrigo Bentancur and Adrien Rabiot should both return to the starting XI having been named on the bench against Milan during the week, although Paulo Dybala could again keep out Gonzalo Higuain.
The fact that Bernardeschi is absent means that Aaron Ramsey should again feature in an attacking role, while Juan Cuadrado should feature at right-back in place of Mattia De Sciglio.
As for Torino, central midfielder Romulo is their only injury doubt with a dead leg, meaning that Garcia has a strong squad to choose from this weekend.
Balotelli is expected to be joined in the final third by Ernesto Torregrossa, while Daniele Dessena should keep his spot despite pressure from former Aston Villa attacker Birkir Bjarnason.
Juventus possible starting lineup:
Szczesny; Cuadrado, De Ligt, Bonucci, Sandro; Rabiot, Pjanic, Bentancur; Ramsey; Ronaldo, Dybala
Brescia possible starting lineup:
Joronen; Sabelli, Cistana, Chancellor, Mateju; Bisoli, Dessena, Tonali, Spalek; Torregrossa, Balotelli
We say: Juventus 2-0 Brescia
Without being disrespectful to Brescia, this is a kind match for Juve as they look to return to winning ways. It will actually be the first time that these two sides have locked horns in Turin since March 2011; Juve won 2-1 on that occasion, and we are expecting another routine home victory on Sunday afternoon.
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 win with a probability of 77.45%. A draw had a probability of 14.1% and a win for had a probability of 8.44%.
The most likely scoreline for a win was 2-0 with a probability of 11.3%. The next most likely scorelines for that outcome were 3-0 (10.07%) and 2-1 (8.82%). The likeliest drawn scoreline was 1-1 (6.6%), while for a win it was 1-2 (2.58%).
