Simply put, one could be forgiven for wondering if there are two totally different sides of Juventus. The Bianconeri first were shocked by Udinese on opening day, marking the first time the Turin giants had ever lost a season opener at home and to date, they have just one win from their first six games. With five points, they are closer to the relegation range as opposed to the upper echelon where they belong, and so, in welcoming Bologna later today, la Vecchia Signora will want to show she still has some grit to grind out a win ahead of the international break. A few hours later, AC Milan will welcome Napoli to the San Siro in what could be their toughest test to date.
Juventus
Curiously enough, Juve's bad domestic form has been matched by some excellent showings in the Champions League. Last season's finalists were arguably given the toughest draw, with Manchester City, Sevilla, and Borussia Moenchengladbach for company, and so far, have earned vital wins over the Citizens and last term's Europa League winners. This has all been without several key players due to injury and the introduction of some new faces - including Sami Khedira - into the squad. Fans were surely pleased with the team's showing against Sevilla midweek and will hope to see more of that kind of Juventus performance as they take on Bologna, a side that historically they have had little trouble with.
Not only have today's hosts won their last four Serie A meetings against Bologna, but they have kept clean sheets in three of these. And the odds for the visitors, who are dead last in the table - but also have just one win like Juve - don't look good. In their past 25 Serie A meetings, the Rossoblu have only won once - back in 2011 - and as for the other 24? 16 wins for Juventus and nine stalemates, something that the hosts will be keen on making it 17 wins to start hauling themselves up the table.
Massimiliano Allegri surely can't wait for the international break to commence as he will be hoping to be welcoming back some of his key personnel after the two week hiatus. As things stand, despite featuring in the Champions League he may opt not to start Khedira from the beginning to avoid putting too much strain on the ex-Real Madrid man. Other absentees for this match will be Kwadwo Asamoah, Mario Mandzukic, Stephan Lichtsteiner, and Roberto Peryera, whilst Claudio Marchisio, who has been nursing a muscular injury for the past few weeks could possibly make the bench, if reports are to be believed.
Although there's a seemingly insurmountable 10 point gap between Juve and current league leaders Fiorentina, the Scudetto race is far from over, and a couple of positive results combined with some slip-ups by the Viola and Inter could make things a bit more interesting as the season approaches the Christmas holiday in a few months.
Bologna
Delio Rossi's side have experienced nothing but disappointment and it has been quite frustrating for the team, the management, and above all their fans. Among these, though, there is no one more frustrated that Mattia Destro, who has found himself under intense scrutiny due to a dry spell spanning six games. the former Roma and AC Milan man only arrived this summer, but given that his new team have failed to score in three of their last seven games, the pressure is only set to get more intense on both Destro and his coach, who has repeatedly defended him in the press.
Bologna's sole win was over Serie a newboys Frosninone but they were unable to build on this as they succumbed to two consecutive defeats by Udinese and Fiorentina. Still, Juventus have not looked at their very best in the league and Rossi's squad will be arriving at Juventus Stadium with some glimmer of hope at staging what would be a morale-boosting upset.
AC Milan
Meanwhile, AC Milan will welcome Napoli in a tough match for the Rossoneri, who will be hoping to secure a top-five (but ideally a top-three) finish in order to make sure that they don't miss out on European football for yet another campaign. So far, though, it has been a tough first season for Serbian tactician Sinisa Mihajlovic who has already lost three matches - the most recent taking place against Genoa.
Considering that the normally frugal executive board opted to splash some serious cash this summer, the expectation for the team and their coach will be to vastly improve on their tenth-placed finish last season. However, as things stand, the Diavolo have only earned nine points from their opening six games and are struggling to build up any sort of consistency.
In fact, they are actually worse off at this juncture than they were under Filippo Inzaghi, who had guided the team to 11 points. Fortunately for Mihajlovic, he will have a pretty-much full strength squad available, although reports have indicated that Mario Balotelli is struggling with a groin problem and will not feature. Although Milan were on a two-match winning streak before seeing it snapped by Genoa, they have yet to be able to keep a clean sheet in any of their matches and were dangerously close to throwing away all three points in tense 3-2 wins over Udinese and Palermo. And given that these two teams, whilst fairly solid, do not have the firepower of the Partenopei, the feeling is that the hosts could be in for a long and difficult afternoon at the San Siro.
Napoli
Maurizio Sarri's side have also experienced a stop-start beginning to their campaign, and have actually won fewer games than Milan, with just two so far. One of these, though, was an impressive performance against reigning Scudetto champions Juventus and they will be coming into this match having downed Polish outfit Legia Warsaw in Europa League action last week. Sarri had opted to rest several of his key players including Marek Hamsik and Lorenzo Insigne, who is battling a knee injury, and the Rossoneri will certainly be wary of Argentinian attacker Gonzalo Higuain.
The ex-Real Madrid man has been in a good vein of form as of late as he starred in his team's 2-1 win over Juve with one goal and one assist. All in all, he has six goals in all competitions, including one versus Legia, and he also enjoys playing against Milan, having scored four times in four appearances and the shaky nature of Milan's back-line will be something he will definitely be keen on exploiting later today.
Although Napoli have only won one of their last 21 games at the San Siro - a 2-1 victory in September 2013 - the Partenopei have come out on top in three out of their last five matches, with just one loss and one draw. So despite their inconsistent performances thus far, the visitors appear to be a side moving onwards and upwards - a worrying fact for Milan who have yet to really find their groove.
Will Juventus finally get their domestic campaign on track after a good performance in European action? And will it be Napoli or Milan to earn a morale-lifting victory before Serie A takes a break for international duties?
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