Juventus v Torino

Serie A’s action kicks off on Friday night with one of the divisions most famous and historic derbies. The two teams may not be competing for the same prizes these days but that doesn’t take anything away from the atmosphere and sense of occasion when they meet.

Juventus are obviously the favourite to take all three points on Friday night at the Allianz Stadium but the Bianconeri are unlikely to have it all their own way.Torino are one of the meanest defences in the league and they are not going to stand by and let the likes of Dusan Vlahovic, Alvaro Morata, and Paulo Dybala fill their boots.

Whilst Massimiliano Allegri has got his side into a rich vein of form and has a new €75 million goalscorer to call on, this isn’t a game that Juventus are likely to score many goals in unless Torino produce an uncharacteristic performance at the back.

Ivan Juric’s side will almost certainly stay compact and organised, knowing that they have enough quality in the side to try and take a chance when it comes their way.That is why regardless of who takes the points on Friday night, it is unlikely to be a goal-laden match with end to end action in Piedmont. 

There is a chance that Andrea Belotti could return to Torino’s starting lineup after a long spell out, but he is unlikely to be in a condition where he’ll score lots of goals.

Sampdoria v Empoli

These two teams are both in a very poor run of form and will be viewing this fixture as a chance to get back amongst the goals and the points.

Empoli were one of the surprise packages in Serie A earlier this season when their form saw them cement a place in mid-table and even push into the top half regularly.Now though, they are yet to win a match in nine attempts and within that run they have drawn or lost to teams near them in the table or beneath them, such as Venezia and Cagliari.The Azzurri still appear safe up in 11th place but Aurelio Andreazzoli will be painfully aware that they are at serious risk of being dragged into the relegation fight should they continue their current form.

That is why Sampdoria will feel that they have a chance to get a home win against a team devoid of confidence. The team from Genoa are hardly flying themselves but they recently beat Sassuolo 4-0 and put in a very respectable performance during last week’s 1-0 defeat away at AC Milan.

Despite being the team lower down the table out of the two, Sampdoria are the ones who have found the net and tasted victory much more recently.For that reason, backing them with the safety net of a draw could be a sensible way to go.

Roma v Hellas Verona

Roma were very fortunate to come away from the Mapei Stadium with a point last weekend after their 2-2 draw with Sassuolo.Hamed Traore ran them wild and on another day they could have been comfortable beaten. They will not be let off the hook so easily by a Hellas Verona side that are in a handy run of form again under Igor Tudor.

They come into the game having put four past Udinese in a home win and they will see the Roma defence as one they can get at with the likes of Gianluca Caprari and Antonin Barak in very good form.

As for Roma, they have shown time and time again this season that they are capable of wonderfully devastating attacking play with the likes of Nicolo Zaniolo, Tammy Abraham, and Henrikh Mkhitaryan on the pitch.It’s their inconsistency that has stopped them from making a serious challenge for those four Champions League spots.

It is likely that Zaniolo will return to the side for this game and both teams will think that they have what it takes to outscore their opponent on Saturday evening, meaning a game filled with chances and possibly filled with goals for both sides.

Jose Mourinho will be painfully aware that his team must start winning these matches against mid-table opposition regular otherwise his side will be in the Europa Conference League again next season.

Salernitana v AC Milan

This is a classic case of the top team in the division taking on the worst team who are rooted to the bottom.It would tale something utterly remarkable for Salernitana to avoid the drop into Serie B, just as it would take something remarkable for AC Milan to not be involved in the title race until the final day.

The Rossoneri capitalised on Inter and Napoli’s 1-1 draw by beating Sampdoria 1-0 and moving to the top of the table, one point ahead of Inter who do still have a game in hand.Expect this confident Milan side to boss the game at the Arechi and cruise to a very comfortable victory, with the likes of Rafael Leao and Brahim Diaz having a lot of fun in the process. It would be very surprising if Salernitana managed to find the back of the net given they have scored just 17 goals all season.

Stefano Colantuono will have been happy with the last two games in which his team drew with both Spezia and Genoa, but he will not be expecting a repeat result when Milan travel down to Salerno on Saturday night.

Apart from Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Stefano Pioli now has all of his attacking options available and many of them are in a rich vein of form, in particular Olivier Giroud.He may rotate his squad given the weaker opposition, but expect the Rossoneri to still win comfortably even if they do not thrash Salernitana.

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