Juventus will face off against Bologna this Saturday in the eighth game-week of Serie A at the Allianz Stadium in Turin. The champions of Italy will try to get all three points from this encounter to stay at the top of the table. Juve will be pumped up after their narrow win against Inter Milan in the previous match, prior to the International Break. The Old Lady are unbeaten so far in all competitions. So, they will be eyeing to maintain their unbeaten streak in this match as well.
Bologna are going through tough times in La Liga. They began their season with an unbeaten run of three games. After that, their performance curve deteriorated gradually. In the previous match, they were held by Lazio and the match ended with a score-line of 2-2. Bologna are currently only three points above the relegation zone. A bad result against Juventus might prove to be detrimental for them. So, they will try to snatch at least one point from this difficult encounter.
The home side are the favourites to win with odds of 1.3 to their name. On the other hand, a draw is placed at 4.4. Further, a win for the visitors is placed at 7.8, based on odds on BigPesa.
Team News:
Juventus:
The Old Lady have still not shown their best performance yet in this season as Maurizio Sarri still does not have his full squad due to injury problems. In this match also, Juventus will miss centre-back Giorgio Chiellini, who is suffering from a knee ligament rupture. Mattia De Sciglio and Danilo will also not be fit for the match against Bologna.
Maurizio Sarri will preferably field his side with the 4-3-3 formation. Szczesny will be under the bars for Juventus. Cuadrado and Sandro will be two Full-backs while Gonzalo Higuain is likely to start as a centre forward for Juventus on Saturday. The game could have two (3.7) or three (3.8) goals, as per the odds on BigPesa.
Bologna:
Bologna will also miss two of their key defenders in this match, Mitchell Dijks and Takehiro Tomiyasu. Gary Medel will also be absent from the squad, as he was shown a red card against Lazio in the previous match. The manager of Bologna, Sinisa Mihajlovic could employ a 4-2-3-1 formation against Juventus.
Denswil is going to replace Tomiyasu at the right-back position in this match. On the other hand, Paz will play in the position of Gary Medel. Bologna might play slightly defensive football, with two holding midfielders constantly supporting the defensive unit throughout the whole match.
Though a 2-0 score-line (7.0) is favoured as per odds on BigPesa, the visitors will surely be keen on having their say on the outcome of this match.
Predicted Lineups:
Juventus: (4-3-3)
Wojciech Szczesny, Juan Cuadrado, Leonardo Bonucci, Matthijs de Ligt, Alex Sandro, Miralem Pjanic, Sami Khedira, Blaise Matuidi, Federico Bernardeschi, Cristiano Ronaldo, Gonzalo Higuain.
Bologna: (4-2-3-1)
Lukasz Skorupski, Stefano Denswil, Danilo,Mattia Bani, Ladislav Krejci, Nehuen Paz, Andrea Poli, Riccardo Orsolini, Mattias Svanberg, Nicola Sansone, Rodrigo Palacio.