Potential dark horses in this season’s Scudetto race, rejuvenated Juventus will visit Serie A strugglers Cagliari on Saturday.
The Bianconeri have won five of their last six games to apply pressure on Italy’s top three, but they still need to claim maximum points in Sardinia.
Match preview
Juventus kicked off the second half of their league campaign in five-star style when they welcomed Cremonese to Turin on Monday evening.
Continuing their mid-season revival, Bremer broke through with an early opener before Juve added two more goals in each half, eventually posting their biggest top-flight win since 2018.
Having taken advantage of Serie A’s top three all dropping points, the Bianconeri cannot be ruled out of title contention – even if their main target is securing more Champions League football.
Since the start of November, when Luciano Spalletti took charge of an ailing side, only league leaders Inter Milan have accrued more points and won more matches.
Furthermore, Juve have now kept five clean sheets in their last seven games across all competitions, with Bremer’s return from injury tightening up a previously leaky defence.
This weekend, Spalletti’s team will try to extend a three-match success streak on the road, before facing big games against Benfica and Napoli next week.
Following a 2-1 home win in November’s reverse fixture, when Kenan Yildiz bagged a brace, the Bianconeri will also look to do another double over Cagliari.
© Imago / Insidefoto
Winless in the last nine league meetings, Cagliari’s most recent victory over Juventus dates back to July 2020; during that spell, the Sardinian club have conceded 17 goals and only scored seven.
Recent form suggests ending that drought on Saturday will be a big ask, after taking just one point from their last three outings.
Beaten 3-0 by relegation rivals Genoa on Monday evening, Fabio Pisacane’s side remain worryingly close to the drop zone.
While Pisacane is still on track to keep Cagliari afloat – extending their latest Serie A stay to three seasons – they now sit 16th, with 18th-placed Fiorentina enjoying a revival.
As the Rossoblu have only recorded two home wins so far, increasing that tally this weekend would require a major upset.
Cagliari Serie A form:
L D W L D L
Juventus Serie A form:
W W W D W W
Team News
© Imago / IMAGO / Buzzi
Juventus may have to head south without Yildiz, after their top scorer missed midweek training due to suffering from flu symptoms; so, fit-again Francisco Conceicao is on standby.
Dusan Vlahovic and Daniele Rugani are still unavailable, but Federico Gatti is set to return to Spalletti’s squad following a layoff.
Having finally found his shooting boots, Canadian striker Jonathan David should continue to lead Juve’s attack, leaving Lois Openda consigned to the bench.
Meanwhile, Cagliari may switch up their forwards after firing a blank in Genoa.
Semih Kilicsoy and Gennaro Borrelli are vying to spearhead the hosts’ front line, while Sebastiano Esposito and Zito Luvumbo are both in contention for supporting roles.
Once again, injured pair Alessandro Deiola and Michael Folorunsho will join long-term absentees Andrea Belotti and Mattia Felici on the sidelines.
Cagliari possible starting lineup:
Caprile; Zappa, Mina, Luperto; Palestra, Adopo, Prati, Mazzitelli, Idrissi; Esposito; Kilicsoy
Juventus possible starting lineup:
Di Gregorio; Kalulu, Bremer, Kelly; McKennie, Locatelli, Thuram, Cambiaso; Miretti, Yildiz; David
We say: Cagliari 0-2 Juventus
Everything points to another Juve win, as Spalletti’s side are in superb form and Cagliari have their limitations.
Keeping yet another clean sheet, the Bianconeri will take all three points back to Turin.
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.
