Juventus vs Parma

Allianz Stadium forms the backdrop for a lopsided Serie A showdown between title-bidding Juventus and relegation-battling Parma.

Juventus recovered from a 4-2 deficit to hold arch-rivals Inter Milan to a 4-4 draw in a see-saw Derby d’Italia last weekend, maintaining their unbeaten Serie A start under Thiago Motta (W4, D5). Despite taking the field amid a 17-game undefeated league run (W6, D11), ‘I Bianconeri’ trail table-topping Napoli by five points, highlighting the importance of beating Parma in the first midweek round this season. The record-time Italian champions have emerged victorious from five of their last six H2Hs against this opposition (D1). But they cannot take anything for granted after drawing three of their five home league outings this season (W2).

In the meantime, Parma bounced back from a goal down at the break to hold Empoli to a 1-1 home draw over the weekend, stretching their winless Serie A run to seven games (D4, L3). However, those four stalemates came in the last five rounds, making Fabio Pecchia’s side a hard team to beat. Yet, with only two points separating them from the bottom three ahead of the kick-off, the visitors are at risk of finishing this round in the relegation zone. They’ll likely need to punch above their weight to avoid that scenario after ominously failing to win any of their last 18 Serie A matches on the road (D8, L10).