Juventus vs Salernitana

Title-bidding Juventus and rock-bottom Salernitana are set to lock horns in a high-stake Serie A encounter at the Allianz Stadium.

Rocked by a dismal 3-0 second-leg home defeat to Villarreal, which led to another premature Champions League elimination, Juventus will be desperate to respond swiftly. Back to Serie A, where they are unbeaten in their last 32 meetings with sides starting the day in the relegation zone (W28, D4), they are odds-on favourites to dispatch Salernitana. ‘I Bianconeri’ remain one of just two teams from Europe’s top-five leagues to go unbeaten in top-flight action since the start of December, having picked up nine wins from their 14 Serie A outings in that span (D5). Since going down 1-0 at the hands of Atalanta in November, Massimiliano Allegri’s men have won five of their subsequent seven Serie A home matches (D2), four of which via the identical 2-0 scoreline.

In the meantime, Salernitana’s faint hopes of avoiding relegation are still alive following an action-packed 2-2 draw at home to Sassuolo last time out. However, the visitors, who have drawn five of their last six Serie A games (L1), should start winning fast if they are to secure salvation. Davide Nicola’s men currently trail 17th-placed Cagliari by nine points, but with three games in hand, that looks like a bridgeable gap. The new manager has yet to address Salernitana’s defensive woes, though, with ‘I Granata’ failing to keep a clean sheet in their last 20 Serie A matches on the trot. In fact, they only have one top-flight shutout to their name this season, while they remain the only Serie A side to have conceded 60+ goals this term (63).