In the final month before the annual Serie A winter break, there is still plenty of football to be played especially around the busy festive period. With just over three weeks until the new year, Saturday’s biggest fixture sees Inter make the trip to Turin to face Juventus. It’s the visitors who are currently setting the pace at the top with 39 points while Juventus are two points behind in third, with Napoli separating the sides in the table.

STATS

• It’s a surprise not to see Juventus at the top of Serie A after their domination of Italian football in the last few years but they are slowly catching the top two. They took a big step towards the top as they beat Napoli 1-0 away from home in their last game which knocked their opponents off top spot as well as ending their unbeaten run. They have won four of their last five league matches.
• Inter are having a fantastic campaign and are now the only unbeaten side in the Italian top flight after Napoli lost to Juventus. With 12 wins from their 15 matches, they are unlucky to be closely followed by Napoli and Juventus but they did carry on their good form in their last game as Mauro Icardi scored another two goals to inspire a 3-2 victory over Sampdoria.
• After his electric start to the season, Paulo Dybala’s form has slowed down in Serie A but he still has 12 goals and is Juventus’ top goal scorer.
• One of the two men with more goals is Mauro Icardi who is the league’s leading scorer with 16 goals. Edinson Cavani is the only player with more goals in Europe’s top five leagues.

HEAD TO HEAD

Inter haven’t had the best of luck against Juventus in the last few years. In the last nine meetings between the two Italian teams, Inter have won just once, this win came last term as goals from Ivan Perisic and Icardi led them to a 2-1 win. It was Juve who won the other fixture last season thanks to a Juan Cuadrado winner. Across all competitions, both teams have scored in just one of the last six after they has both scored in all of the six prior to this run.

JUVENTUS NEWS

If Napoli fail to beat Fiorentina on Sunday, Juventus could go top of the league with a win over Inter. They are likely to be without Benedikt Howedes and Stefan Lichtsteiner while Gianluigi Buffon is expected to start after picking up a muscular injury last weekend.

Latest matches: Juventus Turin

05.12.2017	UEFA	Olympiacos FC	Juventus Turin	0:2	W
01.12.2017	Seri	SSC Napoli	Juventus Turin	0:1	W
26.11.2017	Seri	Juventus Turin	FC Crotone	3:0	W
22.11.2017	UEFA	Juventus Turin	FC Barcelona	0:0	D
19.11.2017	Seri	Sampdoria Genoa	Juventus Turin	3:2	L

INTER NEWS

Three points for Inter against Juve would put them in a controlling position at the top of Serie A and if Napoli were to drop points, they would open up a bigger gap which would bring some much-needed breathing space. They don’t have any injured players and have a full-strength squad to choose from.

Latest matches: Inter Milan

03.12.2017	Seri	Inter Milan	AC Chievo Verona	5:0	W
25.11.2017	Seri	Cagliari Calcio	Inter Milan	1:3	W
19.11.2017	Seri	Inter Milan	Atalanta Bergamasca	2:0	W
05.11.2017	Seri	Inter Milan	Turin FC	1:1	D
30.10.2017	Seri	Hellas Verona	Inter Milan	1:2	W

SUMMARY

With two of Europe’s strongest teams coming together at the Juventus Stadium on Saturday, it is impossible to pick a winner. Inter are enjoying better form but Juventus are so strong on their own turf so a draw is probably the most likely outcome. It should be an absolute cracker of a match between a couple of top sides who are both looking to reach the top of the table.