Juventus will be looking to return to winning ways in Serie A when they welcome an in-form Napoli to the Allianz Stadium on Sunday night for what should be a fascinating affair.
The Old Lady have picked up four points from their first two league games of the 2020-21 season, while Napoli have collected six from an available six, impressing in wins over Parma and Genoa.
Match preview
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Juve made an impressive start to their latest title defence, recording a 3-0 win over Sampdoria on September 20, but Andrea Pirlo's side were held to a 2-2 draw at Roma last weekend.
Cristiano Ronaldo scored twice for the Italian champions, but a double from Jordan Veretout led to the points being shared at Stadio Olimpico, meaning that there is a little bit of pressure on Juve in this match.
Dominant in Italian football, the Old Lady won a ninth straight title last season but only finished a point clear of second-place Inter Milan, while Lazio in fourth were only five points off the top.
Juve were dumped out of the Champions League in the round of 16, meanwhile, and there is no question that there is room for improvement during the 2020-21 campaign.
It has not been an overly busy summer window for the club, although Arthur and Weston McKennie have arrived to boost the midfield, while Alvaro Morata has returned on loan from Atletico Madrid.
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Napoli, meanwhile, finished seventh in Italy's top flight last season, which actually represented their lowest placing at this level of football since the 2008-09 campaign.
The Blues, who beat Juve on penalties to win the 2020 Coppa Italia, have finished second in three of the last five Serie A seasons and will certainly be looking to push higher up the table this term.
Gennaro Gattuso's side will not play Champions League football in 2020-21 but advanced into the group stages of the Europa League due to their Coppa Italia success, and they will be looking to make an impression in Europe's second competition.
Napoli's Serie A form this term has certainly given their supporters reasons to be optimistic. Indeed, a 2-0 success at Parma on September 20 was followed by a 6-0 home victory over Genoa last weekend, with Hirving Lozano scoring twice during a strong performance.
The team's major signing this summer was Victor Osimhen from Lille, and the 21-year-old has provided one assist in his two Serie A appearances thus far.
Juventus Serie A form: WD
Napoli Serie A form: WW
Team News
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Juve are still without the services of Matthijs de Ligt following shoulder surgery, while a thigh strain is again expected to rule Federico Bernardeschi out of contention.
Alex Sandro is also unlikely to feature due to an ongoing thigh issue, while Adrien Rabiot will serve a one-game suspension, having been sent off just past the hour against Roma.
Paulo Dybala could replace Morata alongside Ronaldo in the final third of the field, while Arthur and Rodrigo Bentancur are both pushing for spots in the middle of the park.
Pirlo could decide to switch his formation once again, though, with Gianluca Frabotta returning to the starting XI, which would see Dejan Kulusevski pushed further forward.
Napoli will be without their captain Lorenzo Insigne through injury, while central midfielder Piotr Zielinski will not be available, having tested positive for coronavirus.
The squad is otherwise in good shape, though, and it would not be a surprise to see the majority of the XI that started against Genoa again take to the field for this game.
Indeed, Lozano's brace should see him keep his spot down the left, with Eljif Elmas potentially coming into the side as a replacement for Insigne, which was the substitution that took place against Genoa.
Juventus possible starting lineup:
Szczesny; Danilo, Bonucci, Chiellini; Cuadrado, Bentancur, Arthur, Frabotta; Ramsey; Kulusevski, Ronaldo
Napoli possible starting lineup:
Meret; Di Lorenzo, Manolas, Koulibaly, Hysaj; Ruiz, Demme; Elmas, Mertens, Lozano; Osimhen
We say: Juventus 1-1 Napoli
Juve will be determined to return to winning ways in Italy's top flight, but the champions are in for a tough examination this weekend. Napoli have been excellent in their first two matches, and we expect Gattuso's side to pick up a point from their trip to the Allianz Stadium on Sunday night.
Top betting tip
Our expert tipster partners at Sporita.com are predicting under 3.5 goals in this match. Click here to find out what else they are predicting for this game and for more of their tried-and-tested football tips.Under 3.5:dataData Analysis
Our analysis of all available data, including recent performances and player stats up until an hour before kickoff, suggested the most likely outcome of this match was a Juventus win with a probability of 54.43%. A win for Napoli had a probability of 23.5% and a draw had a probability of 22.1%.
The most likely scoreline for a Juventus win was 2-1 with a probability of 9.77%. The next most likely scorelines for that outcome were 1-0 (8.41%) and 2-0 (8.13%). The likeliest Napoli win was 1-2 (6.07%), while for a drawn scoreline it was 1-1 (10.1%). The actual scoreline of 2-1 was predicted with a 9.8% likelihood. Our data analysis correctly predicted a 2-1 win for Juventus in this match.
