Clean-sheet specialists Juventus will aim to continue their undefeated start to the season on Saturday, as they visit Genoa at Stadio Luigi Ferraris.
Juve are the only team throughout Europe's top five leagues yet to concede a league goal this season, while their hosts were beaten in Serie A last week before losing a Coppa Italia derby.
Match preview
© Imago
Following their tense 0-0 draw with a Napoli side coached by former boss Antonio Conte last weekend, Juventus have drawn their last three league matches with the same scoreline, slightly taking the shine off a superb start to the season.
After back-to-back 3-0 wins kicked off the Thiago Motta era in style, Juve have since been frustrated in Serie A - though they did beat opening Champions League opponents PSV Eindhoven 3-1.
The Bianconeri could now keep clean sheets in all of their first six Serie A matches for the first time to date, potentially drawing four goalless games in a row for the only time in their long top-flight history.
Two points behind leading pair AC Milan and city rivals Torino, Juve will not only been keen to keep the back door shut but also to re-find their goalscoring form - particularly struggling striker Dusan Vlahovic, who had just six touches of the ball before being substituted last week.
Juventus sit inside the bottom half of Serie A both for total shots and shots on target, occupying only 17th place in terms of touches inside the opposition area.
Motta now returns to his old club - where he was once a player and then manager - targeting an improvement, after Genoa and Juve drew both encounters last season with just two goals scored overall.
© Imago
In the clubs' last nine league meetings at Stadio Luigi Ferraris, there have been four wins for each side and a single draw, while Genoa are currently unbeaten in three games against Juventus, following a prior run of five defeats in a row.
However, Alberto Gilardino's side will welcome the Bianconeri to Liguria following successive setbacks that will surely have dented confidence at the club.
Last Saturday's 2-0 defeat at newly promoted Venezia left them 17th in the Serie A standings, with five points from as many matches, before they came unstuck against their bitterest rivals in midweek.
Despite taking an early lead through Andrea Pinamonti, Genoa suffered a painful Coppa Italia loss to Sampdoria on Wednesday evening, after conceding a late equaliser and then exiting the cup on penalties.
Having been beaten by Samp in this season's only Derby della Lanterna - and missed out on a date with Roma in the last 16 - the Grifone must try to avoid more misery when Juve arrive at Marassi this weekend.
- D
- W
- L
- D
- L
- W
- W
- D
- D
- D
Team News
© Imago
Juventus will make sweeping changes to their defence this weekend, so Nicolo Savona and Andrea Cambiaso both drop out of the side, which was surprisingly named a day early by Thiago Motta. Jonas Rouhi is set to make his first start at left-back, with Danilo being brought in on the right.
Another key component in Juve's defensive department, Bremer will lead the Bianconeri's back four, having scored twice before against Genoa - including his first Serie A goal in November 2019. Over the past six seasons, no defender has recorded more headed goals (13) throughout Europe's top five leagues.
Despite being the club's top scorer for 2024, Dusan Vlahovic has only found the net in one of his last 10 league games: a brace against Hellas Verona last month.
The Serbian striker will continue up front, though, as Arkadiusz Milik is still sidelined by injury; Portuguese winger Francisco Conceicao has returned to team training and could be back on the bench.
Meanwhile, Genoa have not relied on a single scorer, as each of their last 12 Serie A strikes have been registered by a dozen different players - most recently ex-Juve defender Koni De Winter in a 1-1 draw with Roma.
Juventus-owned midfielder Fabio Miretti recently returned to fitness and may feature at the weekend, but Junior Messias and Ruslan Malinovskyi - the latter of whom suffered a season-ending injury last week - are both consigned to the treatment room.
As Caleb Ekuban is struggling with a muscular problem, Vitinha and Andrea Pinamonti should be paired in the hosts' attack.
Genoa possible starting lineup:
Gollini; De Winter, Bani, Vasquez; Sabelli, Thorsby, Badelj, Frendrup, Martin; Vitinha, Pinamonti
Juventus possible starting lineup:
Perin; Danilo, Kalulu, Bremer, Rouhi; Fagioli, McKennie; Gonzalez, Koopmeiners, Yildiz; Vlahovic
We say: Genoa 0-1 Juventus
Neither side is prolific, so this meeting of two up-and-coming coaches could be a tactical affair decided by just one goal.
Given the depth of their resources following a summer of spending, Juventus should finally end their Serie A drought, consigning Genoa to a third straight defeat.
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.
Jonathan O'Shea
