Sunday’s high-stakes Serie A encounter between Juventus and Fiorentina might form each side’ aspirations for UEFA Champions League qualification subsequent season. There’s nothing however objective distinction to separate the golf equipment earlier than the kick-off, with each searching for a manner into the highest 4.
Weston McKennie and Nicolas Gonzalez had been on the scoresheet as Juventus squeezed previous rock-bottom Monza 2-1 final weekend. That was their thirteenth consecutive unbeaten sport in all competitions. Extra importantly, it maintained Thiago Motta’s unbeaten league document in cost.
Regardless of being the one workforce alongside Paris Saint-Germain but to lose a top-flight fixture throughout Europe’s top-five league this season, Juventus’ infamous lack of ability to show attracts into victories might price them dearly. Certainly, they languish three factors adrift of fourth-placed Lazio pre-round, with 9 standing between them and pacesetters Atalanta.
Given Atalanta’s red-hot home type, something aside from victory right here would doubtless be the scourge of Juventus’ title ambitions. The identical goes for Fiorentina, whose type curve has taken a downward trajectory towards the top of the calendar 12 months following an unbelievable begin underneath new boss Raffaele Palladino.
After solely shedding as soon as of their first 14 video games underneath the ex-Monza supervisor (W9, D4), they’ve misplaced two in a row, together with a 2-1 house defeat to mid-table Udinese on Monday. A sport in hand on many direct top-four rivals is simply an optical phantasm, contemplating they tackle defending champions Inter.
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Juventus
Motta should discover a solution to get Juventus into the win column extra usually. That notably rings true when factoring within the Turin giants’ behavior of sharing the spoils on the Allianz Stadium. Six of their 9 house league outings have ended all sq., together with three of the final 4, making them Europe’s uncontested ‘stalemate specialists.’
Nonetheless, there’s a silver lining. Juventus have squeaked previous Fiorentina 1-0 of their final three league conferences at house. Motta have to be optimistic about posting one other shutout, figuring out his males main the division’s clean-sheet charts with ten, considered one of which got here of their final 4 house league matches.
Certainly, three of these 4 video games yielded an similar 2-2 scoreline, with the equalizing objective coming in second-half stoppages twice. A much less eye-pleasing affair is on the playing cards as Juventus’ final 9 top-flight clashes in opposition to Fiorentina have featured underneath 2.5 objectives, highlighting the potential for a low-scoring showdown.
Fiorentina
Low scoring has been a typical theme in Fiorentina’s current away matches, with 5 of their final six aggressive highway journeys producing not more than two objectives. Palladino would hope for extra impactful outcomes from these uneventful fixtures, but La Viola solely received half of them (W3, D1, L2).
Regardless of shedding back-to-back Serie A video games for the primary time since February, Fiorentina can nonetheless finish the calendar 12 months on a excessive. Palladino’s frugal protection conceded the division’s joint-low 5 away objectives forward of the weekend, conserving 5 successive clear sheets (W4, D1) earlier than a 1-0 loss at Bologna final day out.
Fiorentina should carry that defensive resilience to Turin in the event that they’re to upset their esteemed hosts. For context, they’ve failed to seek out the again of the online on their final 4 aggressive visits to Juventus (L4). Moreover, they’ve scored greater than as soon as in simply considered one of their 4 away league outings since a 6-0 rout of Lecce in mid-October.
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Juventus head into their final Serie A match of 2024 severely weakened by accidents. Gleison Bremer, Juan Cabal, Arkadiusz Milik, Douglas Luiz, and Tim Weah aren’t at Motta’s disposal. Motta has put long-serving captain Danilo up on the market, which means he’ll doubtless keep out of the squad.
As for Fiorentina, Marin Pongracic is the one doubt. Edoardo Bove is recovering from a cardiac arrest, however his profession in Serie A is over. The identical goes for Cristiano Biraghi’s time in Florence after Palladino sidelined him from the workforce amid rising exit hypothesis.
Juventus vs Fiorentina Potential Beginning Line-ups
Juventus (4-2-3-1): Di Gregorio; Savona, Kalulu, Gatti, Cambiaso; Locatelli, Thuram; Conceicao, Gonzalez, Yildiz; Vlahovic.
Fiorentina (4-2-3-1): De Gea; Dodo, Comuzzo, Ranieri, Gosens; Adli, Cataldi; Colpani, Gudmundsson, Sottil; Kean.
Juventus vs Fiorentina Prediction
As aforementioned, this match-up has all of the makings of a tepid affair. Due to this fact, there’s a sense that whoever attracts first blood would doubtless take house all three factors. Fioreinta’s current decline may very well be the last word confidence booster for Juventus as we again the hosts to assert a valuable win.