JUVENTUS

League position: 4th
Head coach: Andrea Pirlo
Serie A top-scorer: Cristiano Ronaldo (15)

RECENT FORM

Juventus: W W W W W
Roma: D L L W W

Juve have hit a bit of a purple patch recently and a 2-1 victory at Inter Milan last time out not only put them on course to reach the Coppa Italia final, but also made it five wins on the bounce in all competitions for Pirlo’s men.

The Old Lady have won their last two in Serie A without conceding and are searching for a third consecutive clean sheet in the league for the first time under Pirlo.

Victories over Spezia and Hellas Verona have put the Giallorossi back on course and no side has scored more goals in the opening 15 minutes of Serie A games than Roma this season (8), while Juventus have scored the most (14) in the final 15 minutes this term.

Three points for the visitors could move them to within three points of top spot and also open up a four-point gap to their hosts, albeit Juve will still have a game in hand.

LAST MEETING

DANGER MAN
Cristiano Ronaldo

He may be three Serie A games without a goal - a fourth game without scoring would represent his most barren run since November 2017 - but Ronaldo remains Juve’s most potent threat.

The Portugal captain is leading the race for the Capocannoniere with 15 goals already this season, that includes both goals in the 2-2 draw between these sides on Matchday 2.

That took Ronaldo’s tally to four goals in five appearances against Roma in black and white, while his overall record versus the Giallorossi sits at nine strikes in 11 games.

He has won eight of those games, drawn once more and lost just twice, while his two goals in the 2-1 cup victory over Inter in midweek show that he’s far from out of form.

MATCH STATS

Roma have only played Inter (175) more times than Juventus (173) in Italy’s top-flight, but have unfortunately lost to the latter more times (82) than any other side in Serie A.

Having won the final meeting of 2019-20 and drawn the first of 2020-21, however, the Giallorossi have the chance to go three games unbeaten against Juventus for their first time since December 2002.

At that time, Fabio Capello’s side made it five without loss facing Juve and following Roma’s 3-1 win at the Allianz Stadium the last time they made the trip to Turin, Paulo Fonseca’s team travel north with the hope of claiming successive away victories over Juve for the first time in their history.

Roma have scored in each of their last four league matches against Juve and could make it five for the first time since 1993, while eight of the last 11 goals in this fixture have come from dead-ball situations (including five from penalties).

PLAYER STATS

• Alvaro Morata has never scored or made an assist in five games against the Giallorossi; his worst record against any club in Serie A.
  
• Weston McKennie has three league goals this season and his next goal will make him the highest scoring American in Serie A’s recent history - by overtaking Michael Bradley’s three-goal record, which included two goals for Roma.
  
• Prior to his move, Roma’s latest import from the USA, Bryan Reynolds, was the youngest defender to have provided at least four match-winning assists since 2019 in the MLS.
  
• Borja Mayoral has scored the joint-most goals (six) of any player from their first five Serie A starts.

WHAT THEY SAID

“I believe Roma are one of the best teams in Italy, as they have a strong coach and quality players. I think they could win the Scudetto.”

- Juventus defender, Danilo

'We're starting to find our form and making the movements more automatic, because in the first few games they were practically test runs, as we didn't really have a pre-season training camp.”

- Juventus coach, Andrea Pirlo