Sampdoria V Juventus

Serie A – Week 34 [Saturday, 2nd May – 17:00 GMT] –  Stadio Luigi Ferraris

Juventus

Juventus travel to Genoa knowing that as long as they avoid defeat against Sampdoria, a fourth consecutive Scudetto will be theirs.

For the first time this season, the Bianconeri know that the title is in the own hands and all thats needed is a point to secure a 33rd club Scudetto, despite there being no Juve fans allowed at the Stadio Luigi Ferraris.

A ban imposed by the league as a result of last week’s unrest in the Derby Della Mole means that if Juve do secure the title, they’ll have to wait until the following week to celebrate the title with supporters. A further ban was imposed on the Curva Sud meaning it will be closed for two-matches, however Juventus are planning to appeal the decision.

There has been some positive news this week, beginning with the return of midfielder Romulo who has missed most of the season due to injury. The Brazilian joined the rest of the team for his first training session in almost 6 months and has been included in the squad for tomorrow’s game.

Another positive is the imminent return of Paul Pogba following 50 days out with a thigh injury. A statement on the clubs official website read as follows:

“Today an MRI scan revealed that the player has made further progress in his recovery from a torn thigh muscle.

“The player will undergo a personalised recovery regime before potentially returning to full training with the group on Wednesday.”

If all goes according to plan, the French midfielder may be fit enough to feature in the second-leg of Juve’s Champions League semi-final against Real Madrid.

Switching focus to tomorrow’s game, Gigi Buffon is fit and will start in goal while Allegri may opt for a 3-5-2 formation meaning Andrea Barzagli, Leonardo Bonucci and Giorgio Chiellini will all start in defence. Patrice Evra is suspended so Simone Padoin is the likeliest replacement at LWB with Stephan Lichtsteiner starting on the right.

Juve coach Max Allegri has confirmed that Andrea Pirlo will probably start on the bench meaning Claudio Marchisio will play in the regista role with Stefano Sturaro and Arturo Vidal partnering him with Carlos Tevez and Alvaro Morata up front.

Probable lineup:

3-5-2: Buffon; Barzagli, Bonucci, Chiellini; Lichtsteiner, Vidal, Marchisio, Sturaro, Padoin; Tevez, Morata

Injured Players:

Asamoah (Back in training), Caceres (ankle), Pogba (hamstring)

Suspended Players:

Evra

Form

(L-W-D-L-W)

Sampdoria

Samdporia are in dire need for points to stave off Genoa and Inter’s furious comebacks into Europa League contention. As it stands right now, they have a one-point lead over Genoa, a two-point one over Fiorentina (that have the easiest schedule in this bunch) and three points more than Inter and Torino. How did that happen? They have chocked in the last two home games, drawing against Hellas Verona and Cesena, they have tied against Milan, a match that has become a freebie at this point, and they have lost against Fiorentina and Napoli. Victory has been elusive to them for five straight pivotal matches down the stretch.

The hard-nosed coach Sinisa Mihajlovic needs to right the ship quickly or his stocks will plummet as he’s almost a sure bet to leave after the season. Since Samuel Eto’o and Luis Muriel joined the team in January, he has tinkered a lot with the tactics: a weird 4-3-3 basically with three centre-forwards; 4-3-1-2 with a stronger midfield and a true CAM or Eto’o in the hole; 4-2-3-1 with the Cameroonian striker in a free-style role, with Roberto Soriano, Eder or Muriel completing the trequartistas’ trio and Stefano Okaka as the offensive reference point. The results have been mixed, not to say disappointing, but the last one is probably the best one, or at least the funniest to see. The most defensive one should be the choice here.

With Eder now done for the season with an MCL tear, Muriel has stepped into the starting XI, but this has also depleted the bench, which has won some games for them. Muriel can be a transcendent talent, but he’s injury-prone, sometimes out of shape and seems to be performing at high levels only when extremely motivated. He has benefitted from the change of scenery as he has scored four goals in 574 minutes with Blucerchiati, after failing to score with Udinese in the first half of the season. After some fracas at the beginning of the stint, Samuel Eto’o has been awesome: a true leader of men in his new role as point guard/quarterback.

So, what’s holding them back? Some calls haven’t gone their way, Okaka’s poor scoring record certainly doesn’t help, at times Mihajlovic gets a little reckless with his lineups and some of the starters are simply average players that have overachieved for most part of the season. I think they deserve to qualify to Europa League because they have been consistent all year long. After Juventus, they face Udinese, Lazio, Empoli and Parma: they definitely have a shot to cling to their lead, even if the opponents are raising the level of their performances.

They’ll be without Afriyie Acquah who is suspended and Eder, Joaquin Correa and Alessandro De Vitis that are injured. Angelo Palombo, Soriano and partly Eto’o have rested on Wednesday, so they are likely to start, but Alfred Duncan has played well against Hellas Verona and could strengthen the midfield in place of Soriano. Djamel Mesbah could replace Vasco Regini on the defensive left flank. Ezequiel Munoz has played the last game substituting Matias Silvestre, but Sinisa will probably go with his starting CB’s pair.

They have never lost at home: seven wins and nine draws. In order to grab at least that one Scudetto-winning point, Juventus will have to contain Sampdoria’s shots, through balls and counter-attacks and pay particular attention to set pieces.

Injured players:

Eder (knee), Correa (thigh), De Vitis (knee).

Suspended players:

Acquah

Probable lineup:

4-3-3: Viviano; De Silvestri, Silvestre, Romagnoli, Mesbah; Obiang, Palombo, Duncan; Muriel, Okaka, Eto’o.

Formations: