Serie A: New Bosses Ready to Lock Horns in Turin

Juventus vs Lazio

Third plays fourth in a Turin tussle on Saturday when Lazio are the visitors to Juventus in the Serie A match of the weekend.

After impressing at Bologna Thiago Motta has made a strong start as Juve manager and the Serie A 2024 betting odds are taking the Old Lady very seriously as a potential Scudetto winner. She currently sits third in the table and is the only team in Serie A to be unbeaten after seven games.  

Juventus drew 1-1 at home with Cagliari just before the international break while Marco Baroni in his first season as Lazio manager led his side to a 2-1 win at home to Empoli and that makes it four wins on the run for I Biancoceleste who have moved up to fourth place in the league table, alongside Juventus on 13 points.  

 

Talking Points

Motta trusts his young guns

I Bianconeri have a busy physio room at present with senior players including centre back Gleison Bremer and forwards Teun Koopmeiners and West McKennie sidelined. Add to that the suspension due for Francisco Conceicao who was red carded late in the game with Cagliari and Motta is a little short in senior numbers. But he has faith in his squad and a handful of young players are ready to take their chance.

19 year old Turkish forward Kenan Yildiz broke through into the Bianconeri first team last season and he was hugely impressive at Euro 2024; and he will take the place Koopmeiners would occupy just behind striker Dusan Vlahovic. The Serbian hitman has five goals for the season, scoring in the draw with Cagliari and bagging a brace on Juventus’ trip to Genoa, their previous league outing. French defender Pierre Kalulu, on loan from AC Milan, can step into Bremer’s slot while 21 year old Nicolo Savona and 20 year old Jonas Rouhi will play in the full back positions, Federico Gatti making up a young back four. 23 year old Khephren Thuram will operate alongside Manuel Locatelli in the centre of midfield and they will provide support for both defence and attack.

I Bianconeri are into a SBOTOP price of 6.00 to win the Scudetto, behind favourites Inter Milan and 2023 winners Napoli, and ahead of AC Milan. If they are to run the course and make it to the final stretch of the race Motta will need his full squad; and this is another chance for his emerging players to make their mark.   

 

Baroni finding consistency

After a rather sketchy start to life in Rome, Baroni has led Lazio to an impressive run of Serie A results with three wins from the last four, and they have thrived in the Europa League too, beating Dynamo Kiev 3-0 and Nice 4-1 and sitting top of the early table. Captain Mattia Zaccagni, who also hit the headlines at Euro 2024 with a screamer of an equaliser for the Azzurri against Croatia, scored in Lazio’s win over Empoli; he is thriving with the captain’s armband and Zaccagni bagged again when Lazio crushed Nice in the Europa League. Argentine striker Taty Castellanos scored twice against the Ligue 1 outfit and he has three league goals for the season too. Lazio faced Torino when Il Toro were top of the league and it was Castellanos’ strike partner Dia Boulaye who was on target in a 3-2 victory along with Dutch forward Tijjani Noslin and midfield ace Matteo Guendouzi. After a successful season on loan at Lazio the former Arsenal man has made his home in Rome and, at 25, he is starting to fulfil his undoubted potential.

This is a team full of confidence and they will give Juventus’ young stars a serious examination.      

 

History

With 41 wins to 20, in all competitions since 1993, the Old Lady has had the upper hand in this relationship, though over the last six meetings there have been three wins each, all for the home side.   

Both teams come into the game in good form. Juventus have won three and lost three from the last six games while Lazio have won five and lost one.

But I Bianconeri have struggled to put teams away at home, winning one and drawing three of their last six. That said, Lazio have failed to win on their last eight visits to the Allianz Arena, last year losing 3-1 in the league and 2-0 in the Coppa Italia semi-final first leg.  

 

Betting Tip

The draw is available at odds of 2.95 and a Lazio win is at 3.32 and you can make a good case for either outcome. Lazio are in good form but then so are Juve, and I think home advantage will be crucial when two such well matched teams meet.

Juventus have scored in 12 successive league games and, for an alternative bet, a 1-0 home win is priced at 5.70.  

   

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