The Serie A weekend reaches its crescendo on Sunday evening, as Juventus host Scudetto rivals Inter Milan in the Derby d'Italia - the 181st league meeting between two Italian giants.
Juve trail leaders Inter by just two points in the standings, so victory in Turin would take them above their old foes and back to the summit, after a long spell in the Nerazzurri's shadow.
Match preview
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Now resuming their November schedule with perhaps the grandest date in the Calcio calendar, Juventus racked up five straight wins before the international break to pull within touching distance of top spot in Serie A.
Announcing themselves as genuine title contenders, Max Allegri's men followed victories over Torino, Milan, Verona and Fiorentina with a 2-1 success at home to Cagliari a fortnight ago, when goals from defensive duo Daniele Rugani and Bremer helped Juve seal maximum points against Allegri's old club.
Having made their best start to a season since last winning the Scudetto back in 2019-20, Sunday's Derby d'Italia will be the first time in history that Juventus and Inter face each other with at least 29 points apiece before matchday 14, and the prospect of a two-horse race has emerged following recent struggles for both Napoli and Milan.
Although the Nerazzurri have been crowned champions and pipped them to Coppa Italia and Supercoppa glory since Juventus were last top of the pile in Italy, the Bianconeri have still won five of their last eight league matches against Inter.
Indeed, they came out on top in both meetings last term, keeping a clean sheet on each occasion: the chance to post three straight wins over Inter without conceding for the first time since 1977 is, therefore, a possibility this weekend.
Such has been Juve's defensive discipline - with Allegri free to work his team hard on the training ground every week, due to their ban from UEFA competition - they will believe that streak can be achieved; however, their table-topping visitors are in no mood to take a step backwards.
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Inter have won 10 of their 12 league matches this season, suffering just one shock loss to Sassuolo, and throughout their long and illustrious Serie A history they have only won 11 of the first 13 twice before: in 1950 and then 2019.
Fired by the goals of captain Lautaro Martinez, the Nerazzurri are on a run of six straight wins in all competitions ahead of their trip to Turin, with the most recent seeing Federico Dimarco's remarkable strike and a Hakan Calhanoglu spot-kick secure a 2-1 home win over promoted Frosinone.
Having previously seen off regional rivals Atalanta BC and then sealed their place in the Champions League's last 16 by beating Red Bull Salzburg, Inter's star-studded squad departed for international duty on a high, so coach Simone Inzaghi will hope none of that momentum has been lost over the past fortnight.
Securing a top-two finish in Group D with two games remaining means that Inzaghi can focus fully on the Derby d'Italia, rather than having more than half an eye on next week's Champions League contest with Benfica.
Comfortably Serie A's top scorers, Inter are on course to challenge for silverware again this season, after lifting the Coppa Italia and narrowly missing out on European glory last time around - but Juventus will be keen to throw a spanner in the works this weekend.
The Nerazzurri have won just two of their last 17 away games against Juve in the league, losing on no fewer than 11 occasions, and have failed to score in nine. Therefore, Sunday night's heavyweight clash at the Allianz Stadium could be their toughest test yet.
Team News
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Juventus coach Max Allegri will be relieved that regular starter Manuel Locatelli has overcome a rib injury that ruled him out of Italy's Euro 2024 qualifiers, as suspended pair Paul Pogba and Nicolo Fagioli remain unavailable.
Adrien Rabiot's return from a one-match ban is also timely, and the Frenchman joins Locatelli, Fabio Miretti and Weston McKennie in the Bianconeri's engine room.
Likely to start on the left side of Allegri's 3-5-2 formation, Filip Kostic scored his last league goal against Inter in March and has also provided an assist for three of Juve's last six Serie A strikes.
Defensive duo Mattia De Sciglio and Danilo remain unavailable, while McKennie's USA teammate Tim Weah is sidelined by a thigh injury.
Inter are also missing two defenders, as both Benjamin Pavard (knee) and Alessandro Bastoni (calf) have been ruled out of Sunday's game; Stefan de Vrij and the versatile Matteo Darmian should deputise in the Nerazzurri's back three.
The visitors' attack is led by Marcus Thuram and Lautaro Martinez, the latter of whom will become just the second Inter player in 60 years to score at least 13 goals in the first 13 matches of a season if he finds the net in Turin. However, 'El Toro' has scored just once during 676 minutes of Serie A football against Juventus to date.
Ex-Juve wing-back Juan Cuadrado (Achilles) has resumed full training so could be included on the bench by Simone Inzaghi, who leads Allegri 4-2 in terms of Derby d'Italia wins when the two bosses have gone head-to-head.
Juventus possible starting lineup:
Szczesny; Gatti, Bremer, Rugani; McKennie, Miretti, Locatelli, Rabiot, Kostic; Chiesa, Vlahovic
Inter Milan possible starting lineup:
Sommer; Darmian, De Vrij, Acerbi; Dumfries, Barella, Calhanoglu, Mkhitaryan, Dimarco; Thuram, Martinez
We say: Juventus 0-1 Inter Milan
Only Ligue 1's Nice have conceded fewer goals than Inter (six) and Juventus (seven) throughout Europe's top five leagues this season, so a single strike could be enough to separate the sides on Sunday. Juve may have made up ground and are generally dominant at home to their old rivals, but the Nerazzurri are set to prevail and open up a five-point lead atop Serie A.
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.
Top tip
Jonathan O'Shea
