The turnout of this fixture was supposed to see the installment of this season’s Serie A winner, but now it is Juventus who can practically extinguish Lazio’s slim chances when they meet in Turin on Monday night.
Serie A 2019/2020
Date: Monday July 20th
Kick-off: 20:45
Venue: Allianz Stadium
Juventus have had a rather uncharacteristic run of results in recent weeks, having now scrapped just two points from their last three games, and come into this one after the entertaining 3-3 draw with Sassuolo last time out.
Danilo and Gonzalo Higuain looked to have put the tie to bed early on in Città del Tricolore last Wednesday, but their hosts produced a barnstorming comeback and Juve were even indebted to Alex Sandro’s equaliser which helped salvage a point.
With Inter set to potentially trim their deficit on the league leaders by three points when they entertain Roma on Sunday’s late kick-off, the Old Lady will be wary of seeing their title charge go all wrong at the tail end after been ahead all season.
Thus, a ninth Serie A title on the bounce is not in the bag just yet for the Maurizio Sarri-led team, although he can take one giant stride towards retaining their crown by rallying his team to all three points against an out-of-sorts Lazio side here.
After looking like they would truly challenge Juventus for the title following an incredible first half of the season, Lazio have simply imploded.
They have lost four since the restart, including the successive three that preceded the goalless draw with Udinese last time out.
And despite having beaten the Turin giants twice this term, they are very much the underdogs here and it will take a remarkable performance from the I Biancocelesti to avoid defeat on a day their rivals could be desperate for maximum points.
Team news
Juventus
Federico Bernardeschi picked up his fifth booking of the season against Sassuolo and thus, is suspended.
Sami Khedira and Mattia De Sciglio are both on the treatment table.
Lazio
Simone Inzaghi will have a thin squad to pick from here. While Patric is still banners, the Italian will also be without the services of Senad Lulic, Joaquín Correa, Adam Marusic and Lucas Leiva for this game.
Head to Head
In 72 previous meetings between these two sides, Juve have 36 wins to Lazio’s 19 while 17 other clashes have ended as draws.
Team form
Juventus’ last five competitive games: WWLDD
Lazio’s last five competitive games: WLLLD
Betting tips
Lazio are losing some vital players at a time where Inzaghi needs a fully-fit squad firing on all cylinders. Juventus have not covered themselves in glory over the past few weeks either, but Lazio’s defence is looking increasingly shaky, so we are backing the Old Lady to edge a narrow victory and of course dash Lazio’s Scudetto hopes, a win which is prized at odds of 4/7.
And with Cristiano Ronaldo trailing Ciro Immobile by a solitary goal in the race for the Capocannoniere, we think we could get to see both players exchange goals for their sides here. The Lazio man is 6/4 to score anytime, and has more value to bank on.
