Juventus vs Genoa Preview

January 25, 2013 By Gregory Sica

The Bianconeri will be hoping to continue their charge towards back-to-back Serie A titles at home against relegation-threatened Genoa.

Juventus currently lead the Serie A table with 48 points, five points ahead of their nearest challengers Napoli, and the Italian champions have an excellent opportunity to extend their advantage against Bologna at the Juventus Arena on Saturday.

Having beaten Genoa 3-1 when the sides met earlier in the season, Juventus will be looking to finish off the job in front of their home fans, something which they are more than capable of doing.

Despite the fact that the Bianconeri haven't been at their very best in recent weeks, which includes a 1-1 draw with Parma and a 2-1 defeat against Sampdoria, they will rate their chances of overcoming a Genoa side who languish in 18th-position of the table, with just 17 points from 21 games.

Juventus coach Antonio Conte will be delighted by the fact that he will be able to count with a close-to full-strength squad, which includes Paul Pogba. The impressive French midfielder scored twice as the Bianconeri crushed Udinese 4-0 last weekend.

Free-kick specialist Andrea Pirlo continues to be out, but is unlikely to be missed if Pogba puts on another exceptional performance as he did against Udinese.

Following the recent sacking of Luigi Delneri, new boss Davide Ballardini simply can't have a more complicated debut than a visit to the intimidating Juventus Stadium.

Ballardini will try his best to motivate his new side, in this game and the ones that follow, because if he is unable to achieve this, his team could face the drop.

The fact that key players Juan Vargas and Bosko Jankovic will miss the game won't do his side any favours, however, the inclusion of January signing Thomas Manfredini could be of great benefit in terms of experience to a defence which has conceded no less than 34 goals in twenty-one games this season.