Sunday in Serie A: Juve's attacking trio on stand by, Napoli want revenge

Max Allegri is seriously considering fielding Juventus' atomic attack consisting of Angel Di Maria, Dusan Vlahovic and Federico Chiesa. He admitted it at the press conference, partly because Rabiot still feels pain from the blow he received in Salerno, Paredes is still not 100% fit after the injury, Miretti and Pogba are out, so among the midfielders only Fagioli and Locatelli are without problems. Also, Cuadrado has caught a cold and De Sciglio should play in his place, who guarantees better coverage in defensive tasks and would free up some space for Di Maria in the 3-4-3 formation.

Allegri publicly warned Di Maria, Vlahovic and Chiesa that they have to pay the price of the privilege of playing together, which is that they have to contribute in the phase of the game when Juve are not in possession of the ball. Of course, the option of Juve playing with a 3-5-1-1 formation, like against Salernitana and Lazio, remains on the table. In that case, Fagioli would start the match instead of Di Maria.

Tonight's duel carries a special charge because Vlahović, Chiesa and Cuadrado are former Fiorentina players. Moreover, Dušan and Federico provided the new owner of La Viola Rocco Comiso with a very comfortable position. The Italian-American businessman "extracted" from the sale of Vlahović and Chiesa the money he invested for the purchase of the Tuscan club, collecting around 120,000,000 euros.

‘If we bought a dog, we would give him 3.5 million’

Juve inflicted the most defeats on Fiorentina in Serie A (79) and scored the most goals against them, 269, but in the last five matchups, the team from Turin won only once with two losses and two draws.

Also, Juve ended a three-match winless streak in Serie A with ten goals conceded with a win over Salernitana. It is strange that despite the goals conceded by Napoli, Atalanta and Monza, the Old Lady still has the second-best defense in Serie A (behind Napoli) and Szczesny and Perin even kept a clean sheet 13 times in 21 Serie A matches.

Unlike Juventus, who ended their negative streak in Serie A in Salerno, Fiorentina only managed to win a league match once in 2023 and that was undeservedly against Sassuolo, with three defeats and two draws. The negative impression in the new year was improved by the placement in the semi-finals of the Italian Cup and an open passage to the final, since Cremonese is the opponent of the Violets.

In this season, Fiorentina managed to win away games only in Liguria, against Spezia and Sampdoria, and those were the only matches when the Purples scored more than one goal away from Artemio Franchi Stadium.

Vincenzo Italiano's team scored only two goals in the last four matches, which explains the score of three defeats and a draw. Fiorentina's problem hence - is the strikers. There are seven of them on the roster and none of them scored more than three goals in this campaign.

That is why it is not surprising that even tonight it will be uncertain until the last moment whether the starter in the attack will be Jovic or Cabral, Gonzalez or Ikone and Kouame or Saponara. Fiorentina come to Turin weakened: Mandragora and Igor were suspended due to bookings and Barak is injured.

On the other side, Juve still cannot count on Milik, Bonucci, Pogba and Miretti.

In Napoli, they are on the edge of their seats, waiting for sweet revenge against Cremonese for being kicked out of the Coppa Italia. It is safe to say that Ballardini's team was the only one to inflict a painful defeat on the Neapolitans this season. Coach Luciano Spalletti underlined that he has not yet digested the setback against the team from Cremona and that he and his players do not calculate how many points they need to win the Scudetto, but intend to enter every game with the desire to win.

All 50,000 spectators will be present at the Maradona Stadium, that is, all the tickets released for sale have sold out. Spalletti will not calculate with the line-up and we will see Il Partenopei at their strongest on the field. The only dilemma is in the attack between Lozano and Politano, which does not change much in the style of play of the Serie A table toppers.

In the center of attention will be the best scorer of Serie A Victor Osimhen and the team's best assist-man Khvicha Kvaratskhelia. The Georgian turns 22 today and the Nigerian promised gifts to his teammate. Osimhen is the top scorer in Europe in 2023 along with Monaco's Ben Yedder with seven goals scored. Behind them are Lautaro Martinez, Lookman and Rashford. It is indicative that Osimhen scores half of his goals in the central parts of the first and second halves, that is, from the 15th to the 30th minute and from the 60th to the 75th minute.

Osimhen is unlikely to match Gonzalo Higuain's record of 36 goals, but he is well on his way to becoming the first Napoli player since Pipita to win the flattering title of Serie A's top scorer.

Cremonese arrive in Naples rather in a strange mood. It is also clear to them that miracles rarely happen and are repeated even more rarely, despite the fact that clashes between the first and last placed teams always carry a dose of risk and the possibility of a big surprise.

The team from Cremona will be weakened by the absence of several injured footballers from strikers Dessers and Okereke to Lochoshvili, Buonaiuto and Quagliata.

SERIE A - Matchday 22

Friday

Milan - Torino 1-0 (0-0)

/Giroud 62/

Saturday

Empoli - Spezia 2-2 (0-2)

/Cambiaghi 71, Vignato 90+4 - Verde 25 pen, 31/

Lecce - Roma 1-1 (1-1)

/Ibanez 7 og - Dybala 17 pen/

Lazio - Atalanta 0-2 (0-1)

/Zappacosta 23, Hojlund 65/

Sunday

Udinese - Sassuolo 2-2 (2-2) IN PROGRESS

/Udogie 1, Bijol 28 - Mateus Henrique 6, Perez 45+2 og/

17.00: (2.25) Bologna (3.25) Monza (3.60)

20.00: (1.90) Juventus (3.50) Fiorentina (4.60)

22.45: (1.18) Napoli (7.25) Cremonese (15.0)

Monday

20.30: (1.90) Verona (3.60) Salernitana (4.50)

22.45: (8.50) Sampdoria (4.50) Inter (1.45)

***odds are subject to change