Juventus return to Serie A action on Saturday evening as they face Hellas Verona, fresh off being held to a draw by Atletico Madrid in the Champions League during midweek.
Maurizio Sarri's men currently sit third in the league table, having taken seven points from their opening three games.
Meanwhile, Saturday's opponents Verona have had a mixed start since returning to Italy's top flight, recording a win, a draw and a defeat in their first three fixtures.
Match Preview
Juventus will be looking to keep pace with early Serie A pacesetters Inter Milan with a win on Saturday and history suggests that they will enter the game with Ivan Juric's side as heavy favourites.
The Old Lady are unbeaten in their last 28 home league games against Verona and have lost just once in their last 13 matches in all competitions against their Venetian opponents.
More recently, Juve have had some issues in front of goal in the top flight, drawing a blank in three of their last six games, but goals are unlikely to be an issue in this fixture, with at least three goals being scored in each of their last nine meetings with the Gialloblu.
Sarri is likely to rotate a number of players following the club's midweek exploits, with Gonzalo Higuain and Sami Khedira among the candidates to drop to the substitutes' bench.
Verona's return to Serie A has been somewhat successful but their biggest issue thus far, aside from creating a limited number of quality goalscoring opportunities, has been their discipline; they have been hit with two red cards in their first three games.
Keeping their head will be essential against a Juventus team that has the quality in the wide areas and full-backs like Alex Sandro and Danilo to push forward and attack space throughout the game.
The Gialloblu have traditionally lined up with three at the back this season and that is unlikely to change for their visit to the defending champions, although they may opt to recall Scottish midfielder Liam Henderson to offer a more robust passer in midfielder.
While they enter the game as sizable underdogs, Juric's side do have a route to victory - they are a very physical side that have had great success in the air this season.
Given both Giorgio Chiellini's long-term injury problems and the manner in which Juvents were pegged back by Atletico and cut apart at times by Napoli, it is likely that Verona will attempt to use their size and work for set-pieces to create opportunities.
Juventus recent form (all competitions): WWDD
Hellas Verona recent form (all competitions): LDWL
Team News
Chiellini remains the biggest absentee for Juve, who are also without Mattia Perin, Mattia De Sciglio and Douglas Costa for the foreseeable future.
The main changes to the team will likely be provoked by their Champions League commitments, with Sarri expected to try to keep as many of the squad as fresh as possible for their forthcoming games.
Khedira and Miralem Pjanic are potential candidates to drop out of the midfield and Aaron Ramsey could well come into the starting lineup in their place having made his club debut in midweek.
The other potential major difference from the team that played Atletico is up front, with Paulo Dybala likely to be preferred to fellow Argentine Higuain.
As for Verona, Mariusz Stepinski is suspended after his red against AC Milan, while Emmanuel Agyemang-Badu, Alessandro Crescenzi, Daniel Bessa and Salvatore Bocchetti are out injured.
Juric is likely to prefer Henderson to Valerio Verre in midfield, although the Croat has a dilemma as to who to pick up front in Stepinski's absence. Gennaro Tutino is probably favourite to get the nod ahead of Samuel Di Carmine and Giampaolo Pazzini.
Juventus possible starting lineup:
Szczesny; Danilo, Bonucci, de Ligt, Sandro; Ramsey, Matuidi, Bentancur; Cuadrado, Dybala, Ronaldo
Hellas Verona possible starting lineup:
Silvestri; Rrahmani, Kumbulla, Gunter; Faraoni, Amrabat, Veloso, Lazovic; Henderson; Zaccagni, Tutino
We say: Juventus 3-0 Hellas Verona
Assuming that Juventus are not too affected by their Champions League exploits, they should have too much for their Venetian opponents, who are likely to be caught out by their profligacy in the final third and their indiscipline.
body check tags ::
