The Juventus vs. Lazio match will be played on Sunday, January 22, Juventus Stadium in Turin. This is matchday 21 in the 2016/17 Serie A season.

Juventus currently sit top of the table, five points ahead of 4th Lazio who has 40 points.

STATS

• Juventus has won their last 26 Serie A home games.
• Juventus has been winning HT/FT in 14 of their last 16 Serie A home games.
• Lazio has yet to record a win against a team in Serie A top six this season (D1, L4).
• There have been +2.5 goals in 10 of Juventus’ last 11 home Serie A fixtures.
• Lazio hasn’t scored in their last 5 Serie A meetings with Juventus.
• Lazio hasn’t won at Juventus in Serie A since 2003.

HEAD TO HEAD

Sami Khedira scored the only goal of the game when the two sides met in the Stadio Olimpico in August 2016. It was Juve’s seventh win in their last eight games at Lazio.

Since Lazio’s last win against Juventus in Serie A, the two sides have met 24 times with Juventus winning 18 and 6 draws.

JUVENTUS NEWS

Juventus’ defeat against Fiorentina last weekend offered hope to the chasing pack and not beating Lazio this weekend could see them lose top spot for the first time since September and only the second time in a year.

Such is Juve’s dominance of Italian football that this will be a major surprise and losing to Lazio could be a catastrophe. Astonishingly, it’s been 14 years since that last happened in Serie A.

Max Allegri is without Dani Alves and Alex Sandro on the right so Stephan Lichtsteiner’s return from suspension couldn’t be better timed. Stefano Sturraro is suspended so Tomas Rincon could replace him.

Also missing are Medhi Benatia and Mario Lemina due to their Africa Cup of Nations commitments.

However, Max Allegri isn’t expected to make too many changes and having won 8 of the last 10 Serie A games, who can blame him? Seven of them have seen +2.5 goals which is worth looking at in the odds markets.

Latest home matches in Serie A: Juventus Turin

08.01.2017	Seri	Juventus Turin	Bologna FC	3:0	W
17.12.2016	Seri	Juventus Turin	AS Roma	1:0	W
03.12.2016	Seri	Juventus Turin	Atalanta Bergamasca	3:1	W
19.11.2016	Seri	Juventus Turin	Pescara Calcio	3:0	W
29.10.2016	Seri	Juventus Turin	SSC Napoli	2:1	W
26.10.2016	Seri	Juventus Turin	Sampdoria Genoa	4:1	W
15.10.2016	Seri	Juventus Turin	Udinese Calcio	2:1	W
21.09.2016	Seri	Juventus Turin	Cagliari Calcio	4:0	W
10.09.2016	Seri	Juventus Turin	US Sassuolo	3:1	W
20.08.2016	Seri	Juventus Turin	ACF Fiorentina	2:1	W

LAZIO NEWS

After a yo-yo decade, Lazio are looking to return to the Champions League next season but need something from this game to catch Roma or Napoli, the other teams in the top three.

Simone Inzaghi has fewer team selections than Juve boss Max Allegri, with just Senad Lulic suspended Keita Balde Diao at the Africa Cup of Nations.

With 2 defeats in 15 Serie A matches (W10, D4), the Biancocelesti should be confident about getting points from this fixture. If only they didn’t have the weight of history to contend with.

Inzaghi is more worried about the poor record against the top six than history against Juve. As he recently admitted, his team has to step up and believe themselves in the big games if they are to achieve success.

Lazio can take heart from Juventus’ opening to the season in 2015/16. After the opening day defeat to Udinese, the Bianconeri lost their next game to another Roman team, albeit Lazio fierce rivals, AS Roma. OK, that’s grasping at straws…

Latest away matches in Serie A: Lazio Roma

21.12.2016	Seri	Inter Milan	Lazio Roma	3:0	L
10.12.2016	Seri	Sampdoria Genoa	Lazio Roma	1:2	W
05.11.2016	Seri	SSC Napoli	Lazio Roma	1:1	D
23.10.2016	Seri	Turin FC	Lazio Roma	2:2	D
01.10.2016	Seri	Udinese Calcio	Lazio Roma	0:3	W

SUMMING UP!

Juventus are rightly favourites for this fixture but the pressure is on them to win. Lazio aren’t expected to get much despite their own ambitions. It’s been fourteen years since they last won in Turin against the title favourites, so this match represents a major opportunity for them.

Even so, they have only kept 5 clean sheets in the previous 20 Serie A matches and it looks beyond them to do the same in the Juventus Stadium, especially against a team which has such an incredible home record.

They will need to keep Gonzalo Higuain quiet if they are to succeed, with the Argentine striker scoring 7 in his last 6 games, as well as Paolo Dybala, who has 2 in his last 3. It’s not going to be an easy task for Lazio’s defence to silence the pair of them and once one scores, the other isn’t usually far behind.