Serie A: Points are Priceless for Roma and Juve

AS Roma vs Juventus

Sixth plays fifth at the Stadio Olimpico on Sunday when Serie A: Roma vs Juventus is the box office draw in Rome.

These two teams are just one place and three points apart and are battling with the likes of AC Milan and Fiorentina, who also face off this weekend, for European places. Roma and Juve have been heading in opposite directions in recent weeks. I Giallorossi, under the leadership of veteran coach Claudio Ranieri, have been on a winning run which has catapulted them up the table from mid-table mediocrity, ahead of top four hopefuls Lazio on the way.

Meanwhile, the Old Lady has been flagging and, in an attempt to chase down Bologna in fourth place, has changed her manager and brought in former Bianconeri centre back Igor Tudor to steer the club. Roma won 1-0 away to Lecce last week while Juventus won by the same scoreline at home to Genoa and this clash is a genuine six-pointer in which Roma can leapfrog Juve with a two-goal win.

 

Talking Points

Ranieri has the magic touch

After steering Cagliari to survival last season former AS Roma manager Ranieri went into retirement, but he was persuaded back onto the training ground by I Giallorossi as the club’s third permanent manager of the campaign. The club made a statement to the effect that he was brought in to steady the ship and would transition into a senior executive role at the end of the season. But the team’s performance has been superb since the turn of the year and has put together a run of seven successive league wins to climb into top four contention, so club bosses may be wondering how they can replace the 73-year-old magician.

Ranieri showed he can work miracles when he guided rank outsiders Leicester City to the 2016 Premier League title, and he’s managed at the top level for four decades including stints at Inter Milan, Juventus, Napoli and Fiorentina. So there isn’t much the Tinkerman doesn’t know about Serie A football.  

He has massively improved Roma’s performance in a relatively short space of time and they are devilishly difficult to break down, picking up three 1-0 victories on the bounce, against Empoli, Cagliari and Lecce. His team is superbly organised and is happy to bide its time, sitting deep and then striking like a cobra on the break, with top scorer Artem Dovbyk bagging 11 goals for the season, getting the late winner over Lecce last time out. But the big Roma vs Juventus news is that the hosts will go into this huge game without flying wingback Alexis Saelemaekers who is out through suspension, while striker Paulo Dybala is still out injured.         

 

Tudor’s task to re-ignite Juventus

Following two damaging defeats, to Atalanta and Fiorentina, the Juventus owners moved quickly to sack head coach Motta and bring in former playing star Tudor and he started with a much-needed win, which left I Bianconeri well in touch in the top four race. Croatia international Tudor has managed Olympique Marseille and Hellas Verona and was previously an assistant manager at Juventus, and bosses hope he can bring the new manager bounce at a perfect time.

Juventus’ recent clash with Atalanta in Turin turned out to be a nightmare as La Dea ran away with a 4-0 win and then the Old Lady took another hiding the following week away to Fiorentina, this time losing 3-0 and that was enough for the Bianconeri to fire the bullet. Tudor got off to the perfect start as a 25^th minute strike from Turkish winger Kenan Yildiz handed him a victory and a clean sheet. Top scorer Dusan Vlahovic has nine goals and he made the assist for Yildiz and, in defence, with three across the back, Juve looked much more compact. But Tudor will need to make a change for the Roma game as centre back Federico Gatti picked up an injury against Genoa and that could see AC Milan loanee Pierre Kalulu stepping in.

 

History

I Bianconeri have won 33 of their last 69 encounters wit Roma, drawing 20 and losing 16; and the two teams drew 0-0 when they met earlier this season in Turin, as well as drawing 1-1 when they met in Rome last term.  

With five wins and a loss from the last six games, in all competitions, Roma have been more consistent than Juventus who have won three and lost three.

Roma are unbeaten in 13 at home and have won the last five at the Stadio Olimpico and the latest Roma vs Juventus betting odds give them the edge of this huge clash. 

 

Betting Tip

This is a really testing match to call with Roma at SBOTOP odds of 2.32, Juventus at 2.93 and the draw at 2.73. Ranieri has Roma winning, but they are not wiping the floor with anyone and I suspect this will be a tight game, quite possibly another stalemate. But if anyone is going to win it, I think a Tudor bounce may be the winning factor.      

   

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