After riding a rollercoaster of emotions during the past few days, Juventus return to the more prosaic task of taking on Serie A strugglers Udinese on Saturday.
Joy from the Bianconeri's thrilling comeback in the seven-goal thriller against Roma soon dissipated in midweek, as they were beaten by a last-minute goal from their bitterest rivals in the Supercoppa Italiana.
Match preview
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After being dramatically edged out in a high-stakes Derby d'Italia on Wednesday evening, Juventus found themselves back in the increasingly familiar territory of being second best to arch-foes Inter, who last year dethroned them as kings of Serie A.
With the final kick of a match apparently heading to penalties, substitute Alexis Sanchez sealed the champions' first Supercoppa since 2010 by turning home a 121st-minute winner at San Siro.
Such a deflating defeat in Juve's 10th straight appearance in one of Calcio's showpiece occasions brought them right back down to earth, after a stunning fightback just three days previously in Rome.
Max Allegri's men retrieved an almost hopeless cause last weekend, when they came from behind to edge fellow top four challengers Roma 4-3 at Stadio Olimpico, with Mattia De Sciglio the unlikely matchwinner and much-criticised goalkeeper Wojciech Szczesny stopping Lorenzo Pellegrini's late penalty to secure the points.
That victory leaves the Bianconeri placed fifth in the Serie A standings, now six points clear of Jose Mourinho's side and just three behind Atalanta, who still have a game in hand. However, the majority of their victories have come on the road, and Juve rank only ninth in the division in terms of home form before Udinese's arrival at the Allianz Stadium.
They do, though, have precedent on their side this weekend, having won their last five league games against the Fruilani in Turin - scoring at least twice on each occasion.
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By contrast with their hosts, Udinese's win in their last away league match at Cagliari came after collecting four defeats and three draws in their previous seven games on the road - indicating their struggle to find fluency outside of Udine.
It was, though, a crushing home defeat that proved an unsatisfactory start to 2022 last Sunday, with Gabriele Cioffi's side previously posting consecutive four-goal wins in the Coppa Italia and Serie A - seeing off Crotone 4-0 in the cup before putting four past Cagliari without reply.
While that pair of wins to end last year pulled them clear of the drop zone and promised brighter times under a fresh face in the dugout - Cioffi taking up the reins from Luca Gotti in December - the Bianconeri's belated return from a COVID-19 outbreak in the camp brought about a 6-2 reverse at the hands of Atalanta.
Matches against both Salernitana and Fiorentina had previously been postponed either side of the winter break, so Udinese still have a game or two in hand on most of their rivals in the scrap for survival.
However, taking anything from their encounter with Juve will come as a welcome bonus, given they have lost nine of their last 12 meetings with the Old Lady.
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Team News
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Having made an impact with his antics on the bench upon returning to the squad on Wednesday, Leonardo Bonucci could now make it back into the Juventus rearguard this weekend. Fellow centre-back Giorgio Chiellini is available to start, too, having featured from the first whistle against Inter following his recent return from COVID-19 infection.
Max Allegri's options will also be bolstered by having both Juan Cuadrado and Matthijs de Ligt back from suspension, though Aaron Ramsey again joins long-term injury victim Federico Chiesa on the sidelines. Juve were recently hit by news of an ACL tear sustained against Roma for the flying winger, who is now out for the rest of the season.
The Bianconeri are expected to drop Mattia Perin, who replaced Wojciech Szczesny in goal in midweek, with the latter hoping to fare better after a shaky 2021, having claimed glory for stopping a spot-kick in the victory over Roma.
Set to return to the forward line, Paulo Dybala has netted more goals against Udinese than against any other side in Serie A - including one in the reverse match, on the opening day of the season.
Udinese's squad, meanwhile, are still on the road back to full fitness after nearly a week in quarantine, which ended only shortly before their heavy loss to Atalanta. Of the 12 players who have recently tested positive, a number may remain unavailable - potentially including Jean-Victor Makengo, Ilija Nestorovski and Dutch wing-back Marvin Zeegelar.
Rodrigo Becao is suspended and Gabriele Cioffi has also lost another Brazilian centre-back, Samir, to Premier League side Watford since the transfer window opened, but Croatian defender Filip Benkovic has arrived on a free transfer from Leicester City in his place.
There is little doubt about the former Crawley Town boss will name up front, as since October, only Dusan Vlahovic, Giovanni Simeone and Ciro Immobile have scored more goals in Serie A than Portuguese striker Beto. The Zebrette frontman has netted eight times during that period - including one late on last weekend - and joins Roma's Tammy Abraham as the league's top-scoring debutant this term.
Juventus possible starting lineup:
Szczesny; Cuadrado, De Ligt, Chiellini, Sandro; Locatelli, Bentancur; Bernardeschi, Dybala, Kulusevski; Morata
Udinese possible starting lineup:
Padelli; Nuytinck, Di Maio, Perez; Udogie, Arslan, Walace, Molina; Pussetto, Deulofeu; Beto
We say: Juventus 2-0 Udinese
The cruel nature of their last-gasp defeat in Milan may cause a hangover for Juventus this weekend, but once they get up and running, the home side should take charge of affairs against their brittle Bianconeri counterparts.
Udinese have not only had a serious virus outbreak to contend with, but also are short of some regular starters in defence, so the odds are stacked against them even escaping with a point.
Top tip
Jonathan O'Shea
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 74.16%. A draw had a probability of 16.2% and a win for Udinese had a probability of 9.65%.
The most likely scoreline for a Juventus win was 2-0 with a probability of 12.43%. The next most likely scorelines for that outcome were 1-0 (10.35%) and 3-0 (9.95%). The likeliest drawn scoreline was 1-1 (7.69%), while for a Udinese win it was 0-1 (3.2%). The actual scoreline of 2-0 was predicted with a 12.4% likelihood. Our team at Sports Mole and our data analysis both correctly predicted a 2-0 win for Juventus in this match.
