Insurmountable challenge in Turin
Reigning champions Juventus welcome relegation threatened Lecce to Turin and the Allianz Stadium on Friday night in their bid for a 9th straight Serie A title. Lecce on the other hand find themselves in a fight for their topflight survival and with only 10 games to go, things are starting to get tense.
Juventus
La Vecchia Signora limped back to life after lockdown with a defeat in the Coppa Italia final at the hands of Gennaro Gattuso and his Napoli. Juventus were outplayed for large parts of the game and would have lost in regular time had it not been for the 42 year old Gianluigi Buffon's heroics.
Back to winning ways
Juventus were however able to put the defeat behind them and got back to winning ways when they saw off a Bologna side with 0-2 after goals from Penaldo (Ronaldo for everyone void of even an inkling of humour) and Dybala. The win was warmly welcomed by Juve as a whole after both Sarri and a number of players had been put under uncomfortable pressure following the loss itself but also due to the manner of how they lost against Napoli.
Over to Lazio
It was also welcomed due to the fact that it temporarily keeps main rivals Lazio an arms length instead of a fingers length away, thats to say 4 points instead of 1. Le Aquile face Atalanta in a scintillating fixture between the two highest scoring teams in the league and if Lazio were to lose, Juve would gain the breathing room the biggest and baddest teams hardly ever give up.
Rock-solid at home
Juventus have been absolutely outstanding on their own turf this season racking up 12 wins and a solitary draw which came after missing a ridiculous amount of chances against an average Sassuolo side. Their goal difference of 31-10 at the Allianz Stadium is the leagues second best and i do not see how Lecce can negatively change that in any way, shape or form.
Lecce
The east coast team from the Apulia region (absolutely gorgeous place) are realistically, but definitely not officially, the only team from the bottom 3 that actually look like they have a chance of survival. They trail Genoa by goal difference and are only a point behind Sampdoria and 2 points behind Udinese meaning that securing a topflight contract for next season is definitely a plausible outcome.
Crunch time
The problem is, If I Salentini want that to happen, they need to step it up a notch.. or five. Their last 3 games all ended in humiliating defeats with the goal difference of 3-15 telling its own tale. The defeats may have come against the likes of Roma, Milan and Atalanta but the fact that they conceded 15 goals is inexcusable.
They can, sometimes
However, the defeats followed 3 straight wins where Lecce beat fellow relegation threatened SPAL (2-1) as well as Torino (4-0) and Napoli (2-3) showcasing the fact that they do, at times, possess the quality and fighting spirit needed to survive.
Lecce do have a shot at survival but this fixture is most probably not where the revival begins.
Betting tip
Juve are steamrolling their way towards the title whilst Lecce recently showcased their fragility against top teams which is why i will be backing a Juventus (-2) handicap win at 2.10 with Betway.
