Teun Koopmeiners has scored three time for Juve this season (MARCO BERTORELLO)
Juventus have spent a lot of this season in disaster however the apparently ailing “Previous Girl” of Italian soccer has a fantastic likelihood of coming into the Serie A title race towards Atalanta on Sunday night time.
5 league wins on the bounce have pushed Juve to inside six factors of league leaders Inter Milan, with Thiago Motta’s fourth-placed group creeping in direction of the summit simply as followers launched protests towards the gamers and coach.
Monday night time’s 2-0 win over Verona was preceded by livid followers barracking the group of their pre-match resort, the place they had been staying as punishment for being dumped out of the Italian Cup by lowly Empoli.
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The style of that defeat, to a group sat in Serie A’s relegation zone and with a raft of first-choice gamers out injured, sparked fury amongst supporters who had already watched their group get knocked out of the Champions League within the play-offs by collapsing at PSV Eindhoven.
Followers additionally hung banners by the doorway to the Allianz Stadium in Turin questioning the gamers’ dedication, saying that they “ought to play in yellow” slightly than black and white.
And so they had been booed off at half-time on Monday, with Juve degree solely as a result of Tomas Suslov’s rocket of a shot was disallowed as a result of Davide Faraoni straying offside within the build-up to what would have been a beautiful opening aim.
However within the league, Juve have gone from draw specialists to profitable machine despite the fact that Motta hasn’t but established a convincing fashion of play on his new group.
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Atalanta might be an acid check for Juve as they’re the division’s greatest group away from dwelling with no defeats on the highway since being hammered by Inter method again in August.
Gian Piero Gasperini’s group are nonetheless within the Scudetto struggle themselves because of that away type as they battle for wins on dwelling turf, and sit three factors above Juve in third.
Juve will probably not shut the hole on Inter this week because the champions host rock-bottom Monza on Saturday, however an harm disaster and a Champions League tie with Feyenoord may complicate their title defence, particularly with a visit to face Atalanta developing for Simone Inzaghi’s group per week on Sunday.
Inter have 4 of 5 wing-backs out injured whereas Hakan Calhanoglu is just not at his greatest after getting back from a calf knock.
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Former leaders Napoli might be searching their first win because the finish of January once they host Fiorentina on Sunday, boosted by a superb show of their 1-1 draw with Inter final weekend.
4 attracts and one defeat from 5 matches have left Napoli some extent behind Inter in second place however Antonio Conte’s aspect have a softer run-in than Inter and no European commitments clogging up their schedule.
Conte continues to be awaiting the return of Khvicha Kvaratskhelia’s alternative David Neres and has Andre-Frank Anguissa out with a calf harm till after the worldwide break later this month.
Participant to look at: Teun Koopmeiners
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Netherlands midfielder Koopmeiners has been an enormous disappointment since signing from Atalanta for an preliminary 51.3 million euros ($55.2 million) in August, exhibiting little of the dynamism and goalscoring risk that made him such a star in Bergamo.
Koopmeiners’ late strike on Monday night time was simply his third aim of the season in all competitions and got here after he changed Weston McKennie from the bench.
He isn’t assured a beginning spot towards his previous membership Atalanta, who had been angered by his behaviour when he held out for a transfer to Turin over the summer season by refusing to play initially of the season.
Gasperini stated in August that he and the membership felt “blackmailed” by Koopmeiners who ruined his legacy with Atalanta followers after being one of many stars of final season’s historic Europa League triumph.
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Key stats
6 – The variety of factors separating the highest 4 in Serie A
5 – Juve’s league profitable streak
Fixtures (instances GMT)
Friday
Cagliari v Genoa (1945)
Saturday
Como v Venezia, Parma v Torino (each 1400), Lecce v AC Milan (1700), Inter Milan v Monza (1945)
Sunday
Verona v Bologna (1130), Napoli v Fiorentina (1400), Empoli (1700), Juventus v Atalanta (1945)
Monday
Lazio v Udinese (1945)
td/nf