Juventus vs Hellas Verona

Juventus’ pursuit of a coveted top-four finish in Serie A continues this weekend as they play host to in-form Hellas Verona at the Allianz Stadium.

Despite failing to attempt a single shot on target, Juventus held bitter rivals AC Milan to a scoreless draw last time out, taking their unbeaten run in Serie A to nine consecutive games (W6, D3). After going undefeated in all 30 Serie A home meetings with Verona (W25, D5), ‘I Bianconeri’ will be confident of getting back to winning ways, especially following the January arrival of star striker Dusan Vlahovic. It will be up to the Serbian prodigy to help the record-time Italian champions avoid going back-to-back Serie A matches without scoring for the first time since November 2012. Indeed, Massimiliano Allegri’s men have encountered tremendous problems in front of goal this season, with their tally of 35 goals netted after 23 seasonal games representing their worst scoring return at this stage of the season since 1999/2000.

On the other hand, Hellas Verona have picked themselves up from a horrendous 2-1 home defeat at the hands of rock-bottom Salernitana, racking up back-to-back Serie A triumphs despite conceding on each occasion. As a result, the visitors have set their sights on posting a third consecutive Serie A victory for the first time since October 2013. But Verona’s defensive performances require an improvement, with ‘I Gialloblu’ failing to keep a clean sheet in any of their last eight Serie A outings since a goalless draw with Cagliari in late November. Additionally, Igor Tudor’s men head into proceedings as one of just three Serie A sides yet to register a single shutout away from home this season, conceding an average of 1.9 goals per league trip so far.