Juventus v Napoli – Preview: Title to play for in Turin

Published on: 12 February 2016

It’s the game that could decide the Scudetto race as Juventus and Napoli face one another on Saturday night in the Juventus Stadium in Serie A.

Both teams seem absolutely unstoppable at the moment, as the Bianconeri have won 14 Serie A games in a row – rising to an even better 17 including the Coppa Italia – and the Partenopei have won eight on the trot. This has created some space behind the two top clubs, leaving them as the two most-serious Scudetto candidates.

Juventus have just beaten Chievo 2-0 thanks to goals by Juan Cuadrado and Paulo Dybala, and in their 14 wins they have ammassed 34 goals, conceding only six in total, without conceding in the last five and keeping nine clean sheets in this time.

Napoli come in from their 1-0 home win over Carpi courtesy of a Gonzalo Higuain penalty, his 24th goal in as many games, having scored in the last six. In their winning streak, Maurizio Sarri’s men have put together a total of 25 goals, but also lost to Inter in the Coppa Italia.

Last time the two teams met at the Juventus Stadium back in May, the Bianconeri won 3-1,
whilst earlier this season it was Napoli who took all three points at the Stadio San Paolo, thanks to goals by the usual Lorenzo Insigne and Higuain.

Arguably the best attacking duo of the Serie A will be leading the line for Napoli also at the Stadium, with Maurizio Sarri lucky enough to have his best starting XI all available.

This is not the case for Massimiliano Allegri, who will be forced to change something in his midfield and in the back line. Sami Khedira and Giorgio Chiellini won’t be available, as well as the long lasting injuries of Mario Mandzukic, Martin Caceres and Kwadwo Asamaoh.

This means he could move away from his usual 3-5-2 formation to a new 4-4-2 system, with in-form Cuadrado on the right and Paul Pogba shifted to the left. Starlet Paulo Dybala leads the attack alongside Alvaro Morata, for what will be the most crucial game of this Serie A season.

Form Guide: Juventus (W-W-W-W-W) Napoli (W-W-W-W-W)

Expected Starting XIs

Juventus (4-4-2): Buffon; Lichtsteiner, Barzagli, Bonucci, Evra; Cuadrado, Sturaro, Marchisio, Pogba; Morata, Dybala.

Napoli (4-3-3): Reina; Hysaj, Albiol, Koulibaly, Ghoulam; Allan, Jorginho, Hamsik; Callejon, Higuain, Insigne.

Infographic Source: Sporticos.com

Source: forzaitalianfootball.com

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