Juventus make the trip to the Stadio Olimpico to face Roma looking to keep pace with joint-leaders Inter Milan in the Serie A table.
However, victory for the home side would see them close the gap on Juve to seven points, while also boosting their own hopes of claiming a Champions League spot next season.
Match preview
© Reuters
After picking up just one point from games with Sassuolo and Lazio, Maurizio Sarri would have feared that Juventus had gifted Inter the opportunity to establish an advantage at the top of the standings.
However, three successive wins, combined with their fierce rivals dropping points at Fiorentina, has led to the two teams being locked on the same number of points after 18 matches.
While Lazio also linger as potential title challengers, Juve's focus will be on matching I Nerazzurri blow for blow, hoping that the experience of winning multiple league titles in a row ultimately pays off.
Sarri will be happy to see Cristiano Ronaldo proving his doubters wrong with a prolonged run of form in the final third, with his hat-trick against Cagliari Calcio taking his recent tally to 10 goals from seven outings in all competitions.
Nevertheless, with just one clean sheet being kept in the last four games, Sarri will recognise that Juventus could benefit further if that area of their game improves in the coming weeks.
As for Roma, the 2-0 defeat at home to Torino last weekend ended a seven-match unbeaten run in all competitions, concluding a strong period of momentum which was required after a mixed start to the season.
Paulo Fonseca will remain optimistic regarding the future, however, with his team now looking to close the gap on neighbours Lazio in third place.
Their main concern will probably be the threat of Atalanta BC, who remain just a point behind them, but I Giallorossi have been playing with a belief that suggests they feel that they should be higher up the table.
The setback against Torino could be put down to the Christmas break coming at the wrong time, although there will be an acknowledgement that they cannot afford a similar level of performance when taking to the pitch on Sunday night.
Roma Serie A form: WWDWWL
Roma form (all competitions): WDDWWL
Juventus Serie A form: WDLWWW
Juventus form (all competitions): LWWWLW
Team News
© Reuters
Given the manner of Juve's triumph over Cagliari, Sarri could opt to name the same XI for the trip to Italy's capital.
That would mean a start for Aaron Ramsey, as well as Merih Demiral who continues to be linked with a switch to Leicester City.
Roma boss Fonseca will contemplate changes to his side, with Leonardo Spinazzola potentially getting the nod at right-back ahead of Alessandro Florenzi.
However, Henrikh Mkhitaryan will be sidelined for a number of weeks after sustaining a muscular injury, allowing Diego Perotti to keep his place in the team.
Javier Pastore and Justin Kluivert also remain out of contention for Roma.
Roma possible starting lineup:
Lopez; Spinazzola, Mancini, Smalling, Kolarov; Diawara, Veretout; Zaniolo, Pellegrini, Perotti; Dzeko
Juventus possible starting lineup:
Szczesny; Cuadrado, Bonucci, Demiral, Sandro; Rabiot, Pjanic, Matuidi; Ramsey; Ronaldo, Higuain
We say: Roma 1-2 Juventus
While we have been impressed with Roma this season, it is difficult to back against Juventus, who continue to show that they are not intimidated by the form of Inter. This should be a close match, although we think that Juve will strike late to claim all three points.
Data 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 win with a probability of 45.53%. A win for had a probability of 30.22% and a draw had a probability of 24.2%.
The most likely scoreline for a win was 1-2 with a probability of 9.26%. The next most likely scorelines for that outcome were 0-1 (8.77%) and 0-2 (7.18%). The likeliest win was 2-1 (7.3%), while for a drawn scoreline it was 1-1 (11.31%).
