Juventus vs Sampdoria

Juventus will be clear-cut favourites to progress from their Coppa Italia last-16 tie against Sampdoria when the two sides lock horns at the Allianz Stadium.

Fresh from a comfortable 2-0 home win over Udinese at the weekend, Juventus will be looking to maintain their outstanding H2H record against Sampdoria. ‘I Bianconeri’ have won their last five Serie A meetings with this opposition by an aggregate score of 12-3, netting 2+ goals on each occasion. It’s getting better in Turin, where the record-time Italian champions have won their last seven Serie A H2Hs, scoring a staggering 22 goals while conceding just four in return. Adding to Juve’s confidence, they have gone unbeaten in all five competitive home matches since the start of December (W4, D1), with each of those four victories being accompanied by a clean sheet. Delivering action from the onset, they’ve opened the scoring before half-time four times in that sequence.

On the other hand, Sampdoria have suffered a noticeable dip in form heading into this fixture, going from four consecutive Serie A games without losing (W2, D2) to three top-flight defeats in a row. However, each of Sampdoria’s last six league matches has yielded a full-time margin of under 1.5 goals, highlighting the visitors’ ability to keep their games competitive until the final whistle. Roberto D’Aversa’s men have conceded precisely once across their last three Serie A away outings after shipping precisely three goals in four of their five league travels beforehand, showing the signs of a much-needed defensive improvement. But with two of their last three away league goals conceded coming beyond the 70th minute, Sampdoria will need to take care of their constant lapses of concentration in the later stages of play.