A game that a short time ago seemed set to be a potential Scudetto decider now appears to be just another standing in Juventus’ way as they close in on the title as they welcome Lazio to Turin on Monday night (kick-off 21:45).
PROBABLE LINE-UPS
Juventus (4-3-3): Szczesny; Cuadrado, De Ligt, Bonucci, Alex Sandro; Bentancur, Pjanic, Rabiot; Douglas Costa, Dybala, Ronaldo.
Suspended: Bernardeschi.
Unavailable: Chiellini, De Sciglio, Khedira.
Lazio (3-5-2): Strakosha; Bastos, Acerbi, Luiz Felipe; Lazzari, Milinkovic-Savic, Parolo, Luis Alberto, Jony; Caicedo, Immobile.
Suspended: Patric.
Unavailable: Lulic, Leiva, Marusic, Radu, Correa.
KEY STATISTICS
– Lazio have lost 81 games against Juventus – more than against any other Serie A opponent. The Old Lady have scored 269 goals against the Biancocelesti, their favourite target in the league.
– After winning the reverse fixture, Lazio could record two wins against Juve in the same Serie A campaign for the first time since 2000/01.
– March 2001 was the last time that Lazio beat Juve in their second meeting of the season (courtesy of goals from Pavel Nedved and Hernan Crespo).
– Juventus have kept five clean sheets in their last seven home games against Lazio in Serie A (W5 D1 L1).
– Juventus are winless in three games (D2, L1), conceding at least twice in each match: the Bianconeri have not conceded at least two goals in four games in a row in Serie A since March 1993 with Giovanni Trapattoni at the helm.
– Since the resumption of Serie A after the break, only SPAL, Cagliari and Lecce have scored fewer goals than Lazio (eight) in Serie A; before the forced break, only Atalanta (70) had scored more goals than Lazio (60).
– Lazio have gained only one point from their last four league games (D1 L3).
– Juventus forward Paulo Dybala made his Serie A debut in September 2012 against Lazio, when he was at Palermo.
– Gonzalo Higuaín has scored 12 goals in 10 Serie A appearances against Lazio, his favourite Serie A target.
– Current Serie A top scorer Ciro Immobile played his first three Serie A games when he was at Juventus between 2009 and 2010.
Source: forzaitalianfootball.com