Juventus will begin their Serie A season with an away match against Udinese, looking to improve on last season’s fourth-place finish, which they achieved on the last day of the season. Their season was disappointing by their standards, although not as disappointing as Udinese’s, who ended 10th with 40 points, 38 points below Juventus’ final tally.
Udinese completed their preseason on a high note, as they entered this game fresh off a Coppa Italia victory over Ascoli. In a run of high-scoring games, they’ve scored in each of their last five games while keeping two clean sheets.
Over 2.5 goals have been scored in four of their previous five games, and they’ve scored two or more goals in two of their last three games. In two of their last five games, they’ve also given up three or more goals.
They aim to get off to a solid start in Serie A, since they are winless in their past five games, with four losses, and they haven’t kept a league clean sheet in their last ten games. They’ve conceded 14 goals in their previous five league games, and they’ve gone winless in their last six home games.
In the last 12 matches, Udinese has only beaten Juventus once, while Juventus has won ten. The Turin side comes into this encounter with four wins in their last five games and will be overwhelming favourites. Despite the fact that they haven’t kept a clean sheet in their previous ten games, Juventus have won eight of them and only failed to score in two of them — losses to Milan and Barcelona.
Their games have been high-scoring, with over 2.5 goals in each of their previous ten, and they’ve scored two or more goals in eight of their last ten. In the last ten Serie A matches, Juventus has seven wins, two losses, and no clean sheets.
They have bolstered their squad with the addition of Manuel Locatelli from Sassuolo, as well as the return of Max Allegri as manager. Cristiano Ronaldo is still a Juventus player, despite speculation about his departure, and will begin his fourth season in Serie A with the Old Lady this season. In his first three seasons, he had 81 league goals.
SUMMARY:
Based on their record against Udinese, the quality of players in their squad, and current form, Juventus are expected to win this one easily. A high-scoring game is also expected, so over 2.5 goals here is a possibility. The game will be played today at 5:30PM Nigeria and UK time.
9Naija 