Juventus will play host to Sassuolo in the Coppa Italia this evening, with a place in the semi-finals on offer.
All form guides point towards a home victory, but as the Neroverdi showed earlier in the season, they have all the tools to make this a difficult one for us.
While this is the first time that the visitors have reached the last eight of the cup, they come up against the most successful team in the competition ever in the 14-time champions. It easy to get carried away with the form also, with the Old Lady currently unbeaten in 10 matches in the division.
We will be without captain Giorgio Chiellini for this evening’s clash, but we are boosted by the return of both Leo Bonucci and Manuel Locatelli who both missed the weekend’s victory over Hellas Verona.
It will be interesting to see how the manager looks to line-up the team, with Juve usually rotating the squad for the cup, but this does offer us our first chance to see both Locatelli and Zakaria in midfield together.
Predicted Juventus XI:
Perin
De Sciglio De Ligt Bonucci Pellegrini
McKennie Arthur Locatelli
Cuadrado Morata Kaio
As much as I’d love to see a pairing of Locatelli and Zakaria, the latter had to be replaced with injury on Sunday, and may not be 100%, nor does he need to be risked at this stage. Ake and Soule have been in the playing squad for the senior side in recent weeks, and could also be in contention to feature, but you would have to believe that Kaio Jorge is the most in need of playing time.
Sassuolo do not have the worst form coming into today’s fixture, but despite only losing once from their last six away matches, this test will likely prove too much for them.
I expect Juve to win comfortably today, with a 3-0 win standing out for me as how I can see this one ending up, but it depends how much rotation the manager goes with I guess.
Should Allegri name his strongest XI?
Patrick
