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Serie A preview: Lazio vs Juventus

Lazio are scheduled to host Juventus in Sunday’s much-anticipated Serie A clash from the Stadio Olimpico.

The capital outfit started their league campaign with just four points from the opening four games, but have since registered back-to-back wins.

In comparison, Juventus have also not had a fluent start to the season and they are on 12 points after three wins and as many stalemates.

Lazio are currently 10th on the table with a six point deficit to leaders AC Milan. Meanwhile, the reigning champions are four points adrift in third.

Both teams were in Champions League action in midweek. Lazio drew 1-1 against Zenit St Petersburg after Felipe Caicedo bagged a late equaliser.

The Bianconeri, on the other hand, secured a comfortable 4-1 away to Ferencvaros. Alvaro Morata starred with a goal in either half.

Key Stats:

The teams have previously faced each other on 173 occasions and Juventus have the clear lead with 90 wins to Lazio’s 43.

Lazio beat Juventus 3-1 at home last term and they replicated the feat in the Italian Super Cup final in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

The Bianconeri, however, ended their dominance as they registered a 2-1 win in the reverse league meeting at the Allianz stadium.

Cristiano Ronaldo has faced Lazio on just four occasions. He has scored or grabbed an assist in each of those meetings.

Team News:

Lazio:

Gonzalo Escalante (muscular) and Denis Vavro (unknown) are on the sidelines. Meanwhile, Lazio have plenty of other first-team players missing after contracting the coronavirus.

Manuel Lazzarri, Djavan Anderson, Ciro Immobile, Lucas Leiva and Thomas Strakosha are out after testing positive for COVID-19. Luis Alberto has, however, tested negative, but he could have a late fitness test.

Juventus:

The Bianconeri have not been hampered by the virus of late. Matthijs de Ligt (shoulder) and Alex Sandro (hamstring) are out injured alongside Aaron Ramsey (thigh), who suffered another setback in midweek.

Sami Khedira, meanwhile, is completely out-of-favour under Andrea Pirlo. He has played no part for the Bianconeri since the beginning of the current season and could leave in January.

Predicted Lineups:

Lazio (3-5-2): Pepe Reina; Luiz Felipe, Wesley Hoedt, Francesco Acerbi, Patric; Andreas Pereira, Marco Parolo, Sergej Milinkovic-Savic, Mohamed Fares; Joaquin Correa, Vedat Muriqi

Juventus (4-4-2): Wojciech Szczesny; Juan Cuadrado, Merih Demiral, Leonardo Bonucci, Danilo; Dejan Kulusevski, Adrien Rabiot, Rodrigo Bentancur; Alvaro Morata, Cristiano Ronaldo

Predicted Score:

Lazio were the only team other than Manchester City to beat Juventus twice last season. Their chances of another win appear slim particularly with the absence of several regulars including last season’s European Golden Shoe winner Immobile. Juventus should register a routine win with Ronaldo and Morata in good scoring form of late.

Lazio 0-2 Juventus

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