Juventus head into the Serie A clash with Napoli on Sunday knowing that anything less than a victory would be damaging to their hopes of securing a top-four finish.
Last weekend’s disappointing 1-0 defeat at Cagliari left Juve fifth in the standings, three points behind Roma with 17 games remaining.
With Napoli one point ahead of Roma in third place, Juventus cannot afford to concede any further ground in the race to secure Champions League qualification.
Intriguingly, online betting sites rate Juventus as 11/10 shots to win the game. Napoli are priced at 3/1, while the draw can be backed at 39/20.
Juve fans will be clamouring to find the best sportsbook promos before wagering on what appear to be favourable odds on a home win given what is at stake this weekend.
Juventus will be gunning for revenge
Napoli secured a 2-1 victory over Juventus in the reverse fixture in December, with loanee Rasmus Hojlund scoring twice in a hard-fought encounter.
Hojlund has proved to be a shrewd acquisition for Napoli, scoring nine goals in 26 appearances in all competitions following his loan move from Manchester United.
His addition to the ranks continued the recent trend of Napoli successfully exploiting the transfer market to strengthen their squad.
A recent study into whether richer clubs win more trophies in Europe highlighted an intriguing difference between Juventus and Napoli.
The market value of the defending champions’ squad is worth almost €100 million less than Juventus, which suggests their transfer strategy is more effective.
That point is hammered home by Juve’s acquisition of Jonathan David, who has largely failed to live up to expectations since his free transfer move from Lille.
David has scored just three goals in 20 league appearances this season and Juve desperately need him to improve his output over the next few months.
While recent goals against Sassuolo and Cremonese were undoubtedly a step in the right direction, David was relatively quiet at Cagliari last weekend.
That result coupled with the result at Napoli in early December should ensure that David and his Juventus teammates are fired up to set the record straight this weekend.
Goals could be at a premium this weekend
Juventus manager Luciano Spalletti felt the team was unlucky last Saturday, but acknowledged that Cagliari’s defensive resilience earned them the victory.
“I can explain why Cagliari deserved it, because they fought for every ball, defended well and tried to break forward effectively,” he told Sky Sport Italia.
“We probably failed to be ruthless enough in building situations, and there are matches that just go this way – you accept it and move on to the next one.
“They were a bit fortunate, but in football, these episodes go for you or against you. Maybe next time they’ll fall our way. We have to be sharp.”
Sharpness in front of goal will undoubtedly be a key factor this weekend. The last five meetings in Turin between these two sides have generated just seven goals.
Juventus have won two and drawn two of those encounters, so will take heart from a record which is respectable rather than spectacular.
They had been in fine form heading into the game at Cagliari, assembling a six-game unbeaten run in Serie A. Napoli are currently unbeaten in their last six league outings (W3, D3).
Everything points to a tight encounter between two teams who could still challenge for the Serie A title if they can embark on a long winning run.
