Juventus have won five of the last six games as they host Cagliari in the Serie A. Grudgingly grinding out victories, Juventus has moved up to second place in the Serie A rankings. In contrast, their Sardinian rivals have scored eight goals in three straight victories.
Preview (Juventus vs. Cagliari)
With 11 games played, Juventus has the narrowest advantage over Serie A leaders Inter since they last won the championship in 2019–20. A significant part of this can be attributed to their outstanding defensive performance. Along with Nice in Ligue 1, no team has kept more clean sheets in the top five leagues in Europe than the Bianconeri. Their current run of six straight clean sheets is the longest run since they themselves recorded eight consecutive between October 2022 and January 2023. At Stadio Artemio Franchi, where Fabio Miretti’s early goal on the break gave the visitors a platform to sit deep and frustrate their dominant hosts last weekend, Max Allegri’s team most recently shut up shop against Fiorentina.
Juventus is a formidable team this season. Their year-long ban from UEFA competition appears to have been a godsend. They recently defeated championship rivals Milan and won the Turin derby. Allegri has built a strong defensive line on the training field in between Serie A games. His well-drilled team will take on opponents who haven’t troubled Juventus much recently. With an average of 2.3 goals per game and eight clean sheets throughout their last 12 league encounters. The Bianconeri have won 11 of those matches.
Soon after coming back from three goals down to defeat Frosinone and then edging past Udinese in the cup with an extra-time winner, Claudio Ranieri’s team welcomed Genoa to Sardinia. Second-half goals from Nicolas Viola and Gabriele Zappa sealed a 2-1 triumph at home. Although Juventus can shut out anyone, Allegri, the former coach of Cagliari, will undoubtedly be aware that his team has scored six of the last seven league goals through substitutes, including all four of the team’s goals this season: Leonardo Pavoletti’s brace in stoppage time against Frosinone and both goals against Genoa.
Team News
Fabio Miretti, who scored the game-winning goal in Florence last week, is expected to start for Juventus. He should start alongside Manuel Locatelli and Weston McKennie in the midfield. Usual starter Adrien Rabiot serving a suspension due to accumulated bookings. Andrea Cambiaso and Filip Kostic might take the hosts’ wing-back spots in a 3–5 configuration. The defense trio of Mattia De Sciglio, Danilo, and Alex Sandro is also out of commission in addition to Weah.
Serbian striker Dusan Vlahovic, who plays up front with Federico Chiesa and competes against Moise Kean and Arkadiusz Milik, has now scored five goals in the league against Cagliari, including his first-ever Serie A goal in November 2019. While the visitors are still missing injured players Nahitan Nandez (thigh) and Marko Rog (ACL), former Juventus manager Claudio Ranieri should be able to field his entire team at the Allianz Stadium. In the event that Ranieri decides to change things up, Andrea Petagna, Eldor Shomurodov, Gianluca Lapadula, and Leonardo Pavoletti all offer more seasoned possibilities.
Juventus 2 – 0 Cagliari
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