You want to know how long it has been since Juventus last lost a game in Serie A? Well, I was 26 years old. I'm currently 27 years old. That's how long it been. Maybe I should add to all of this that my birthday was two days after Juventus imploded and lost 4-2 to Fiorentina in Florence — thanks for the nice present, guys — but who's really counting how specific the details are?
I think it's safe to say the eight-point lead atop the league table has been pretty well earned.
Now, Juventus head back to the Stadio Olimpico in Rome for the second time in four days looking to do what they didn't accomplish against Roma in the Coppa Italia on Tuesday night — get a win. I'd say that's a pretty good idea regardless of what kind of shape Lazio is currently in. (Which is a little better under Edy Reja than the end of the Vladimir Petković era in Rome.)
Would you like to see Juve continue their winning ways over Lazio at the Olimpico? I know I would. And it would mean that 13 isn't such an unlucky number these days. Take that, superstition!
GOOD NEWS
Juventus winning streak update: 12 games, 34 goals scored, 4 goals allowed.
This has been a Juventus winning streak update.
BAD NEWS
Giorgio Chiellini, who picked up a yellow card in Juve's 4-2 win over Sampdoria last weekend, will miss tomorrow night's game against Lazio due to suspension. I hope he enjoys the weekend off and Angelo Ogbonna has his customary short shorts all set to go from the opening whistle.
Oh, and Marco Motta is no l
Juventus’s Midfield:
If Lazio are to upset the odds, then they will have to do what few teams have done this season and work out a successful way to deal with Juventus’s midfield duo of Arturo Vidal and Paul Pogba. Lazio know first-hand the damage that the pair can inflict, having been on the end of a 4-1 scoreline in the return fixture that was largely inspired by Vidal.
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Vidal Performance v Lazio 31/08/13
Vidal scored two goals—one of which was assisted by Pogba—and set up a third when the two sides met in August, as well as contributing six tackles in an all-action performance. Proving that it is still possible to be a box-to-box midfield player in an age where many have become specialists, Vidal’s contribution to Juventus’s season as a whole has been huge.
Taken From the Squawka Football App
A force to be reckoned with at both ends of the pitch, Vidal has won a colossal 65 tackles this season. The highest of any Juventus player this season, it is over double the 31 made by Lazio’s most frequent tackler, Lucas Biglia.
Taken from the Squawka Football App
Just one league goal behind the club’s top scorer Carlos Tevez, Vidal is also shouldering the goalscoring burden from midfield. He has 10 goals this season—as many as he managed in the entirety of last season—and has also provided five assists, meaning that he has scored or assisted 30 percent of the club’s league goals.
Taken from the Squawka Football App
And it isn’t as if Lazio just have Vidal to concentrate their midfield efforts on. Pogba has also enjoyed the season of his life next to Vidal, whilst the pair have the luxury of playing in front of the evergreen Andrea Pirlo.
Pogba’s physicality has meant that he has formed an intimidating partnership with Vidal across the pitch. The Frenchman has six goals and four assists, but has also registered 41 tackles and 43 victories in contested headed duels.
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Juventus Chances Created 2013/14
Between them Pogba and Vidal have created 99 chances this season. This impressive tally reflects the creative disparities between the two sides, that have seen Lazio create just 69 percent of the number of chances that their Turin counterparts have.
Lazio’s Hope:
Of the 194 chances that Lazio have created this season, 36 have come from the man who is likely to be key to their ambitions of avenging August’s defeat. Linked to Liverpool in recent weeks, Antonio Candreva has made more chances than any other Lazio player and has also played more passes than all of his teammates bar one.
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Of the 36 chances that he has created four have led to goals, whilst he is also the side’s joint-highest league scorer with five goals. As a team, Lazio have scored just 26 goals this season and, in tandem with an average goals-conceded rate of 1.4 per game, a lack of goals has been a key reason behind their mid-table position this season.
Candreva has either scored or assisted 35 percent of their Serie A strikes this season and is likely to again prove crucial to their hopes this weekend.
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Candreva Action Heat Map v Juventus 31/8/13
Deployed across a number of positions this season, Candreva has been playing on the right-hand side of midfield in recent weeks. However, he experienced joy against Juventus in the first meeting between the sides by playing a free role behind a lone striker.
The heat map from that game shows that he had licence to drift across the pitch and Lazio coach Edoardo Reja could be tempted to spring a tactical surprise and allow him to do so again.
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Chances Created v Juve 31/8/13
Despite his team losing 4-1, Candreva provided five chance-creating key passes over the course of the game. He has yet to replicate such a high chance-creation rate across a single game since that game in Turin and would provide a timely boost to Lazio’s hopes should he create at a similar rate this time around.
Taken From The Squawka Football App
Candreva possesses the ability to take multiple players out of the game in a single run due to his skill with the ball. He has gone past his man on 56 occasions this season, the third-highest number in the league. In a game that Lazio are likely to be on the back foot for much of, Candreva’s running with the ball could provide respite and opportunity on the break, whilst his knack of being fouled could provide them with an opportunity to add to the seven set-piece goals that they have netted this season.
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