In an unusual Monday evening match (19.00 in Italy, 1 pm EST), Juventus will host Livorno. Amaranto currently sit in 17th position with 25 points, one point behind Bologna and two points behind Chievo Verona, therefore they will fight for any single point they can grab.

They will travel to Turin without two key players: Emerson (ankle) and Mbaye (groin) are out. Emerson is a poor man’s Bonucci, his passing is excellent and he always start the action from the back. Mbaye is an energetic wingback who can play on both sides of the pitch and who is a tough opponent to deal with because of his physicality combined with good skills. They will also miss their captain Andrea Luci who is done for the season due to an ACL tear.

Former Juventus Leandro Rinaudo and Piccini will probably replace Emerson and Mbaye. The simultaneous absence of Emerson and Luci will create them some troubles in the initial build-up of the action, since both Rinaudo and Biagianti are defense first type of players. It will be up to the more creative Marco Benassi and Leandro Greco, who will flank the former Catania player, to knit the plays.

They tend to concede in first 20 minutes of the game. Sometimes they have managed to come back (against Milan and Torino), but more often their match has been compromised by the early goal (like against Napoli, Bologna, Parma, Roma, Udinese and Genoa).

Among the low-table teams, they have the best attack as they scored 34 goals. They have tried different combinations upfront, probably Paulinho-Emeghara is the best one, even though Belfodil is trying to redeem himself and show his real value and Siligardi is a precious element, despite some injury setbacks.

They take many shots (13 per game) and they shoot a lot from distance. Greco, Paulinho, Siligardi and the absent Emerson are good long-range shooters. Paulinho is their leading scorer with 12, even though he hasn’t find the back of the net since the end of February.

They have conceded 58 goals, the third worst defense in the League. Without their defensive leader Emerson, I expect the Ceccherini-Rinaudo-Castellini trio (even though Valentini and Coda have a chance to be selected in the starting XI) to be really shaky.

They use 3-5-2 but it is really a 5-3-2. They sit back, letting the others have possession (43% average), hoping to be able to counter with efficiency. They have a really good goalkeeper in Bardi, whose season has been almost blunder-free. Sometimes playing in teams that inevitably concedes many goals can hurt a young goalie’s morale, but Bardi has always showed great character and amazing saves even though it’s hard to keep a clean sheet when you let the opponent shoot 14 time per game.

This is the probable lineup: Bardi; Ceccherini, Rinaudo, Castellini; Piccini, Benassi, Biagianti, Greco, Mesbah; Paulinho, Emeghara. In a super defensive XI, Di Carlo might opt for Castellini as LWB, inserting Valentini in the back three. Duncan has some chances, but the Benassi-Biagianti-Greco combination is the one that worked the best for them in the midfield.

The Serie A specialist Domenico Di Carlo has done a good job while at the helm, but the team was poorly built by a president that is only waiting for the right offer to sell the club, thus Livorno will have to fight until the last match to avoid relegation.

UPDATE: There is a chance that Di Carlo will field a very defensive-minded 4-4-2. Anyway, the president Aldo Spinelli stated that their main focus in the match against Chievo Verona next Sunday, therefore Paulinho and Greco, who are one yellow card away from disqualification, will not start to make sure that they will be there on a crucial game. Emeghara-Siligardi is set to be the attackers’ duo, while Duncan will start in the midfield.