League leaders Juventus travel to Serie A debutantes Crotone in their game in hand from week 18, missed due to their involvement in the Supercoppa Italiana. Max Allegri may take this opportunity to rest some of his regular first team players having just come off a physical battle against Inter last Sunday.

Opposing coach Davide Nicola enters the match deflated after disappointing weekend result against fellow relegation contenders Palermo. Saving themselves from a quick return to Serie B seems like an uphill battle at this point, but perhaps the midweek game against Juventus presents an opportunity to play the champions at a good moment after the pressure of last week’s Derby d’Italia. Nicola would be happy to escape this match with a point, meanwhile on the other side, Allegri will expect a compact and positive performance worthy of three points.

 

Max Allegri seems like an absolute genius right now after his formation change has coincided with both a more attractive style of football and four straight victories. This midweek game gives the mastermind tactician an opportunity to rest some of his players and give others a chance to get vital first-team action. He looks likely to stick with his 4-2-3-1 system however, but will be without Claudio Marchisio who is suffering from back pain and did not make the trip. This offers  a chance to either Tomas Rincon or Stefano Sturaro to play alongside Sami Khedira in the midfield. Mario Mandzukic could move to the forward position to rest Higuain, allowing fellow Croatian Pjaca to play with Dybala in the attacking midfield trio.

Also returning from injury is Dani Alves, who could be in for his first start since his injury layoff in place of Lichtsteiner. Sunday’s goal hero Juan Cuadrado could also start from the bench, giving Allegri a choice between moving Pjanic further forward or using Alex Sandro or Dani Alves in one of those advanced roles. 

 

Nicola faces the first of two very difficult matches, with Crotone entertaining Roma this weekend. The Rossoblu coach is coming off what could prove to be a significant loss against fellow relegation strugglers Palermo. Now up against a dominant force in Juventus, Nicola will need to remind his players of their success against Empoli just two weeks ago when they scored four.

Their danger man, Diego Falcinelli (who is on-loan from Sassuolo) will be out to impress against a big opponent as the locals get ready to play what is probably the biggest match in the clubs history. Other Sassuolo players on-loan in addition to Falcinelli are Ferrari and Trotta, all three of which can be reference points for experience for the Serie A new boys. They will need more than courage and concentration to have any chance of securing at least a point.  

 

 

 

Juventus (4-2-3-1) Buffon; Alves, Bonucci, Barzagli, Sandro; Rincon, Khedira; Pjaca, Dybala, Pjanic; Mandzukic
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Crotone (4-4-2) Cordaz; Rosi, Ferrari, Ceccherini, Martella; Sampirisi, Rohden, Barberis, Stoian; Falcinelli, Trotta
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David Baleno