JUVENTUS

League position: 4th
Head coach: Massimiliano Allegri
Serie A top scorer: Dusan Vlahovic (two)

RECENT FORM

JUVE: - - - W D
ROMA: - - - W W

Juve kicked-off the campaign with a 3-0 win over Sassuolo on week one and drew 0-0 at Sampdoria last time out.

Summer signing Angel Di Maria was one of a number of injuries that Allegri had to cope with in their blank in Liguria last time out, with returning Frenchman Paul Pogba, goalkeeper Wojciech Szczesny and Italy international Federico Chiesa also sitting in the treatment room.

Like Juve, the Giallorossi are yet to concede so far this season and have gone two points better by sealing successive 1-0 victories in an encouraging start to 2022-23 for Jose Mourinho’s men.

They are one of only three teams with a perfect record going into Matchday 3, but they also have to deal with the disappointing news that newboy Georginio Wijnaldum is missing for the foreseeable future after suffering a fractured tibia.

Possible Juventus line-up

(4-3-3)

Perin; Danilo, Rugani, Bremer, Sandro; Rabiot, Locatelli, McKennie; Cuadrado, Vlahovic, Kostic

LAST MEETING

DANGER MAN
Dusan Vlahovic

The former Fiorentina man may not have scored against La Samp last time out but his brace at home to Sassuolo shows he’s as razor sharp as ever this season.

His 24 Serie A goals last term were only bettered by one other player across the entire division and he has 11 in 23 since joining the Old Lady in January this year.

Vlahovic and Di Maria looked to have hit the ground running until the Argentine’s injury and Juve’s No. 9 will have to carry his team’s goalscoring burden considering the club’s long list of absentees.

Allegri does have the opportunity to pair Vlahovic with Moise Kean in attack in order to use his preferred 4-4-2 formation, but a front-three of the Serb flanked by Filip Kostic and Juan Cuadrado looks more likely.

MATCH STATS

This will be the 199th meeting in all competitions between these two historic sides of Italian football, with 176 of those games appearing in the top-flight.

Mourinho collected victories in each of his first three league matches last term, and could do so for a second season in succession by beating Juventus.

Prior to Mourinho’s arrival at the start of the 2021-22 campaign, Roma had not begun a league season with back-to-back wins since the 2014-15 campaign when they won five out of five.

Juve have won all three of the previous meetings between these two and are unbeaten in four (W3, D1), but Roma’s most recent victory over the Old Lady came at the Allianz Stadium in a 3-1 win on the final day of the 2019-20 season.

PLAYER STATS

• Mourinho’s record against both Juve (P9, W4, D1, L4) and Allegri (P10, W4, D2, L4) can be split perfectly down the middle.
  
• Paulo Dybala scored 115 times in 293 appearances for Juventus and won five Serie A titles before his move to Roma this summer.
  
• Dybala ranks third in the league so far this season on the lists for most shots (10) and key passes (nine).
  
• Only Sampdoria’s Abdelhamid Sabiri (nine) has been fouled more times than Nico Zaniolo after two rounds of Serie A fixtures in 2022-23.

WHAT THEY SAID

“We want to achieve something great, we are a little further behind schedule than the others and need a little more patience. Not conceding a goal in two games is a good sign, now we will prepare for the big match against Roma.”

- Allegri after the goalless draw at Sampdoria