Juventus vs Sampdoria

Juventus and Sampdoria are set to trade tackles at the Allianz Stadium in a high-stakes Serie A showdown.

Back to Serie A duties following a hard-earned 1-0 home triumph over Freiburg in midweek Europa League action, Juventus are looking to leave last weekend’s 1-0 humbling at Roma behind against a Sampdoria side they’ve defeated in seven consecutive top-flight H2Hs in Turin. Despite drawing a blank against Roma, ‘I Bianconeri’ are unlikely to go back-to-back Serie A matches without scoring for the first time since 2012, considering they’ve netted multiple goals in their last eight competitive home H2Hs against Sampdoria. Moreover, since going down to Serie A debutants Monza in late January, Massimiliano Allegri’s men have won four of their next five competitive home games (D1). Since three of those victories came by an identical 1-0 scoreline, Juventus may not have to pack a punch to record another win.

Meanwhile, visiting Sampdoria could only manage a disappointing 0-0 home draw against bottom-half Salernitana last weekend, extending their disastrous winless run in Serie A to nine matches (D3, L6). As the league’s worst goalscorers with just 11 goals from 25 fixtures (an average of 0.44 per game), there’s not much Sampdoria can complain about a whopping 12-point deficit on safety. Stuck at the bottom of the table with a mere 12 points to their name, Dejan Stankovic’s men can draw some confidence from having returned 67% of their Serie A tally on the road (8/12). Indeed, both of Sampdoria’s two top-flight triumphs this season have come on hostile turf, giving the visitors a diminutive reason to believe in an upset.