Overview
After only winning 2 points in the last 4 matches in Serie A - along with being eliminated from the European arena and Coppa Italia - Juventus had a rather slow start in the home match last week against Pisa.
Previously, they had to rely on two late goals to draw with AS Roma - a direct competitor for a place in the top 4. Although unable to score in the first half against Pisa, the Turin team finally showed superior strength.
Goals in the second half from Andrea Cambiaso, Khephren Thuram, Kenan Yildiz and Jeremie Boga helped Juventus win convincingly at Allianz. However, they are still only ranked sixth in the Serie A standings.
The race for fourth place - the last ticket to the UEFA Champions League for Italian football - is becoming extremely tense. Como (ranked fifth) just beat Cagliari, while Roma stumbled against Genoa. These two teams will face each other at the weekend.
That means Juventus has a chance to temporarily take the lead if they win when playing away at Udinese's stadium. However, coach Luciano Spalletti's team is having problems in defense, conceding at least 3 goals in the last 4 away matches.
However, since Spalletti - who used to coach Udinese in 117 matches in Serie A over two periods - took over the team to replace Igor Tudor at the end of October, only Inter Milan has scored more goals than Juventus in the league.
In the opposite direction, Udinese is often inferior in matches against Juventus. In the last 15 times hosting the "Old Lady" in Serie A, the Friuli team has only won 1 and lost 10 matches.
Even after the defeat in Turin this season, Udinese has lost seven of their last eight encounters with Juventus and only scored 2 goals. Juventus also eliminated them from the Coppa Italia just a few weeks later.
Under the guidance of Kosta Runjaic, Udinese has just escaped a series of worrying forms at the end of February when they lost 3 consecutive matches in Serie A.
They reacted strongly with a 3-0 victory over Fiorentina, before almost repeating the same result in the previous round. However, Udinese lost a 2-goal lead to Atalanta when conceding twice in the last 15 minutes and accepted a draw.
Personnel situation
Juventus is only missing two names due to injury, Emil Holm and Arkadiusz Milik, before the away match to Udinese's stadium. Meanwhile, Dusan Vlahovic has returned to full training after more than 3 months of being sidelined due to injury.
The Serbian striker's most recent goal in Serie A came in the first leg in October - his fourth goal against Udinese in his career. Vlahovic's return may put great pressure on Jonathan David's center forward position, as Lois Openda is gradually being pushed down to a lower role in the attacking system.
On Udinese's side, striker Keinan Davis is also in impressive form. After improving his scoring record in matches against Fiorentina and Atalanta, this striker has 9 goals in Serie A this season.
Davis is likely to continue to play alongside Nicolo Zaniolo in attack. If he reaches the two-digit goal mark, he will become the fourth English player to score 10 or more goals in a Serie A season.
Expected lineup:
Okoye, Kristensen, Kabasele, Solet, Ehizibue, Ekkelenkamp, Karlstrom, Atta, Kamara, Zaniolo, Davis.
Perin, Kalulu, Bremer, Kelly, Cambiaso, Thuram, Locatelli, Conceicao, McKennie, Yildiz, David.
The match between Udinese and Juventus takes place at 2:45 am on March 15 (Vietnam time).
