Torino v Juventus
Juventus are finally picking up steam with four wins from their past five unbeaten games. Although they haven’t totally convinced in all of them, conceding twice each in 3-2 wins over both Spezia and Sampdoria, a victory over Chelsea last time out in Europe will be a big confidence boost. Second-place Milan are the only side to deny them maximum points over this spell, so the visitors will expect to continue their march back up the table after a poor start.
Torino have been a mixed bag this season with a W2-D2-L2 record to date, with only one of their games settled one way or the other by more than a single goal. However, the last two campaigns have produced the same top-seven finishers and against those sides, Torino have lost 17 of their past 23 league matches going back into January 2020, as well as 11 defeats from 14 such home games since November 2019. Given Juventus are unbeaten in 13 clashes with Torino across all competitions since 2015/16, winning 10 of these, they’ll be confident of maintaining their building momentum.
Juventus may have seen Alvaro Morata and Paulo Dybala limp off with injuries against Sampdoria last weekend, but Massimiliano Allegri can still call upon the likes of Federico Chiesa, Dejan Kulusevski, Moise Kean and Federico Bernardeschi in attack. Torino’s problem’s are arguably worse with a number of players sidelined at present, but of greatest concern will be the absences of forwards Simone Zaza and last season’s top scorer Andrea Belotti.
PREDICTION:
JUVENTUS TO WIN
Fiorentina v Napoli
Napoli’s European campaign took a hit with a surprise defeat to Spartak Moscow on Thursday, having previously rescued a decent point away at Leicester in their opening group game. However, things are going swimmingly on the domestic front with a perfect record of six wins, where they’ve scored 16 times and conceded just twice.
Napoli are an impressive W16-D3-L1 in Serie A since late February, with 13 of those victories coming by a minimum two-goal margin. The sole stain on their record was a narrow defeat to Juventus back in April, as they’re unbeaten in 15 appearances now. Fiorentina should however provide a stern test having won four of their six games to date, but while this includes a win over Atalanta, the other two games saw them lose 3-1 to both Roma and Inter.
Against the established top seven sides in the land, Fiorentina have lost 13 of 17 games since the start of last season, conceding at least twice in every defeat as the defence has struggled to cope. Given they’ve managed just the solitary clean sheet in the current campaign, they should struggle to contain a Napoli side that have netted at least twice in all eight of their appearances this season at home or abroad.
PREDICTION:
NAPOLI TO WIN
Atalanta v AC Milan
Whereas Atalanta battled to a 1-0 win over Young Boys midweek, Milan were left frustrated as Frank Kessie’s first-half red card left them facing an uphill struggle against Atletico Madrid, eventually surrendering their early lead to late goals from Antoine Griezmann and Luis Suarez. Although they’ve been thwarted in the Champions League so far, also losing by a one-goal margin to Liverpool, they remain unbeaten domestically with five wins from six appearances.
That leaves the Rossoneri with nine wins and a pair of draws in league action since the start of May as they also ended last term in strong fashion, registering eight clean sheets over this period as no side put more than one goal past them. That includes a crucial win away at Atalanta on the final day of the season, meaning they’ve only lost one of their past five trips to Bergamo now.
Atalanta may only have lost one of eight games in all competitions during the current campaign, but all four of their victories have come by one-goal margins. There haven’t been any significant scalps either as in addition to Young Boys, their victories have come over Torino, Salernitana and Sassuolo, though can take heart from a draw away at Inter.
Atalanta have no new injury concerns with Hans Hateboer and Luis Muriel already absent, though centre-back Jose Luis Palomino could return here. For Milan, Zlatan Ibrahimovic remains sidelined, but alternative option Olivier Giroud and right-back Davide Calabria are back in action, while Junior Messias could finally make his debut, with Stefano Pioli’s injury concerns largely limited to back-up players.
PREDICTION:
MILAN DOUBLE CHANCE
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