Preview: Lazio vs Juventus – Team News, Line-ups & Prediction

Victory is crucial for under-pressure managers Maurizio Sarri and Igor Tudor as Lazio and Juventus sq. off in a Serie A traditional. Stadio Olimpico units the stage for Sunday’s blockbuster, with the 2 Italian heavyweights dealing with one another for the 163rd time within the high flight.

Expectations have been excessive forward of Sarri’s return to the bench, but the hosts have struggled at the beginning of the season. Solely two wins within the opening seven rounds (D2, L3) had pinned Lazio to Serie A’s decrease reaches pre-round. Moreover, the Biancocelesti miraculously prevented defeat at Atalanta final weekend, as La Dea squandered a catalog of probabilities in a tepid 0-0 attract Bergamo.

Lazio can ill-afford one other comparable efficiency in the event that they’re to return to successful methods right here, not least as a result of they tackle one other crew in disaster. Like their hosts, Juventus are having a tough time, with a slender 1-0 loss at Actual Madrid in midweek Champions League motion extending their dreadful winless streak in all competitions to seven matches (D5, L2).

Evidently, Igor Tudor is dealing with mounting strain forward of his return to Rome. There’s a sense that something apart from all three factors on his previous stomping floor would lead to a untimely dismissal. With the stakes at an all-time excessive for the 47-year-old, this matchup guarantees to be a tense, hard-fought affair, with neither facet prone to take pointless dangers.

Either side will struggle tooth and nail for a morale-boosting triumph, understanding that defeat may spell catastrophe for his or her respective managers.

Match Preview

Lazio

Regardless of going unbeaten of their final three league outings (W1, D2), Lazio stay caught within the backside half of the desk. Nevertheless, they might overtake Tenth-placed Cremonese with a win right here. Victory isn’t out of the realm of risk by any stretch of the creativeness, though the Biancocelesti did not beat Juventus in each Serie A conferences final time period (D1, L1).

Certainly, since a 2-0 defeat in November 2021, Lazio have strung collectively a four-match unbeaten residence run in opposition to the Turin giants in all competitions (W3, D1), with every sport in that sequence producing a full-time margin of below 1.5 objectives. With that in thoughts, one other tight, low-scoring encounter might be on the playing cards, particularly given Lazio’s struggles in opposition to elite golf equipment.

Each of their league wins this season got here in opposition to sides beginning the spherical within the backside 4. As if that’s not regarding sufficient, Lazio have emerged victorious from simply two of their final 15 league matches on the Olimpico (D9, L4), most just lately humbling perennial bottom-dwellers Hellas Verona 4-0 in late August. It’s additionally price noting that they solely stored one clear sheet throughout that 15-game stretch.

Juventus

Tudor sits on the point of a defining second in his Juventus tenure, together with his facet desperately needing a spark to show their fortunes round. Juve’s seven-game winless run throughout all competitions has left confidence at a low ebb, as they journey to the capital in pursuit of essential factors, searching for their first league win because the controversial Derby d’Italia conquer Inter in mid-September.

Nevertheless, the duty is nothing in need of Herculean. Juventus have failed to attain of their final three aggressive matches, with each defeats in that sequence coming away from residence. That doesn’t make for promising studying forward of this must-win highway conflict, nor does an underwhelming run of solely two victories from their final 9 Serie A away video games (D4, L3), which features a pair of attracts at this stadium.

Notoriously gradual out of the blocks, Juventus have drawn a clean within the first half in 5 of their seven Serie A matches this season. Subsequently, it’s barely stunning that solely a kind of fixtures produced over 2.5 objectives, making the Bianconeri one of many least thrilling groups to look at in these early levels of the marketing campaign. Given the circumstances, leisure is the very last thing that considerations Tudor.

Group Information

Already coping with a summer season switch embargo, Sarri now faces a fair larger choice headache as a number of first-team regulars are out injured. Matteo Cancellieri, who scored three of Lazio’s ten league objectives this season, has joined Taty Castellanos, Nuno Tavares, Nicolo Rovella, Samuel Gigot, Fisayo Dele-Bashiru, and Luca Pellegrini within the therapy room with a thigh situation.

Then again, Juventus stay with out their defensive cornerstone, Gleison Bremer, who’s recovering from a knee damage. Arkadiusz Milik and Juan Cabal are additionally unavailable. It is going to be attention-grabbing to see whom Tudor selects in assault tonight because the guests purpose to halt their three-match scoring duck. Regardless of his dismal kind, Jonathan David may nonetheless get the nod forward of Dusan Vlahovic.

Lazio vs Juventus Potential Beginning Line-ups

Lazio (4-3-3): Provedel; Hysaj, Gila, Romagnoli, Marusic; Guendouzi, Cataldi, Fundamental; Isaksen, Dia, Zaccagni.

Juventus (3-4-2-1): Di Gregorio; Gatti, Rugani, Kelly; Kalulu, Locatelli, Thuram, Cambiaso; Conceicao, Yildiz; David.

Lazio vs Juventus Prediction

This sport has all of the makings of a ‘make or break’ conflict for Tudor, whose tenure at Juventus hangs by a thread. Something in need of victory may push him nearer to the exit door. Subsequently, a conflict in opposition to injury-hit Lazio might be simply what the physician ordered for the underperforming Turin powerhouse.

It’s exhausting to again Juventus for a win with any actual conviction, however they appear higher positioned than their ailing rivals to place three valuable factors on the board.

Prediction: Juventus to Win

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