Overview
Since Luciano Spalletti took over Juventus, the "Old Lady" has only suffered two defeats in Serie A. However, their most recent defeat has almost closed all hopes of competing for the Scudetto this season.
After a 6-match unbeaten streak, Juventus unexpectedly succumbed to Cagliari last weekend, despite being completely superior in possession time and number of shots. That defeat made the Turin team currently three points behind the top 4, thereby forcing them to focus all their strength on the most important goal of winning a Champions League spot next season.
In the middle of last week, Juventus promptly regained confidence with a 2-0 victory over Benfica, thereby securing a place in the play-offs when the group stage still had one round left. After a relatively balanced first half, goals from Khephren Thuram and Weston McKennie helped Juventus completely control the game, before overcoming the pressureful final minutes.
Before the away match at Monaco in the last group stage match, Juventus will aim to extend their unbeaten streak at home, where they have not lost since March last year.
As one of the two teams, along with Napoli, that has never lost at home in Serie A this season, Bianconeri has won 10 of their last 14 matches at Allianz Stadium, except for the 1-2 defeat to Napoli last month.
Including the defeat at Diego Armando Maradona's stadium, Juventus has only won one of the nine most recent encounters with Napoli in Serie A, including matches that took place when Spalletti was still leading the Southern team.
However, Napoli's performance at the Allianz stadium is not very impressive. The blue team has only won two out of 14 away matches here in Serie A and has lost 10 times. Before his most recent return to Turin, coach Antonio Conte had never defeated his old team away from home in the highest league in Italy.
Napoli may have won the Italian Super Cup last month, but their form in Serie A has declined significantly since then. 3 consecutive draws took place before they suffered a narrow 0-1 defeat to Sassuolo last weekend. However, the defending champion is still only 6 points behind the leading team Inter Milan and 4 points ahead of Juventus, while maintaining a 9-match unbeaten streak in all competitions.
In the Champions League, Napoli's fragile hopes continued to be hit hard when they drew with Copenhagen in the middle of the week. Although Scott McTominay opened the score early at Parken, Conte's team could not preserve their advantage and is in the group at risk of being eliminated before the important match against Chelsea in the middle of next week.
Unable to hide his disappointment, Conte publicly criticized the performance of his students after the draw in Denmark and will certainly demand stronger reactions in this weekend's great battle.
However, with only 4 wins in the last 13 away matches, Napoli is not highly rated as they are preparing to enter their 160th encounter with Juventus in Serie A history.
Personnel situation
Besides former Napoli striker Arkadiusz Milik, Juventus will continue to be missing Daniele Rugani and Dusan Vlahovic in the upcoming match.
With an impressive performance from the bench in the match against Benfica, Francisco Conceicao has proven his ability to return to the starting lineup, but Spalletti is unlikely to make many changes.
On the other side, Rasmus Hojlund once scored a double against Juventus in the confrontation in December last year. However, the Napoli striker is currently going through a 5-game winning streak in Serie A.
Expected lineup:
Di Gregorio, Kalulu, Bremer, Kelly, Cambiaso, Locatelli, Thuram, Conceicao, McKennie, Yildiz, David.
Milinkovic-Savic, Beukema, Buongiorno, Jesus, Di Lorenzo, Lobotka, McTominay, Spinazzola, Vergara, Elmas, Hojlund.
The match between Juventus and Napoli takes place at 0:00 AM on January 26 (Vietnam time).
