Juventus vs Cagliari

Juventus and Cagliari are set to trade tackles at the Allianz Stadium in their last Serie A fixture this calendar year.

Since falling to a 1-0 home defeat to Atalanta in late November, Juventus have gone unbeaten in their last four Serie A matches (W3, D1), with each victory in this sequence yielding an identical 2-0 scoreline. A noticeable upturn in form compared to their underwhelming start to the season has seen ‘I Bianconeri’ whittle down the gap on fourth-placed Atalanta to six points, meaning their top-four pursuit is very much on. However, a lack of consistency on home turf has witnessed Juventus alternate between winning and losing across their last five Serie A fixtures at the Allianz Stadium (W3, L2). With four of those five matches won/lost seeing the winner on the day keep a clean sheet, scoring first could be of the essence here. Juventus will be odds-on favorites after winning nine of their last ten top-flight H2Hs (L1).

On the other hand, Cagliari head into proceedings having failed to win any of their last ten Serie A outings on the trot (D4, L6) since defeating Sampdoria 3-1 at home in mid-October, frustratingly drawing a blank five times in the process. Indeed, under Walter Mazzarri’s stewardship, the ‘Sardinians’ have failed to get on the scoresheet in five of their seven away league matches (D3, L4). Additionally, the visitors have lost each of their last five Serie A visits to the Allianz Stadium by an aggregate score of 16-1, succumbing to multi-goal margins on each occasion. The signs are ominous for Cagliari following a thoroughly disastrous Serie A start, as the last team to have avoided defeat after picking up less than two wins from the opening 18 top-flight fixtures was Bologna in 1978/79.