Inter face test of title hopes at champs Juve
MILAN: Having ended Napoli’s unbeaten start to the league season last week, champions Juventus will try to do the same to Inter Milan when they host the Serie A leaders in a mouth-watering “Derby d’Italia.”
Inter were left as the only unbeaten team in the league after Juve won 1-0 last Friday away to a Napoli side which had not lost in the opening 14 games. The result last weekend also allowed Inter to go top with 39 points thanks to a 5-0 win over Chievo.
Juventus, third with 37 points, will top the standings if they win today although Napoli (38 points) would overhaul them if they can beat an improving Fiorentina tomorrow.
Whatever the outcome, it is already clear that Juventus, chasing a seventh successive title, have far more of a fight on their hands than in previous seasons where they often left the rest of the field trailing in their wake.
It is also evident that reports of Juve’s demise have been premature.
The cracks which appeared during a 2-1 loss to Lazio – Juve’s first home defeat in more than two years – and a 3-2 defeat at Sampdoria have quickly been filled by their pragmatic coach Massimiliano Allegri.
They have been resolute in defence and their 2-0 win over Olympiakos, which took them into the Champions League last 16, was their fourth successive clean sheet since the Sampdoria defeat.
Juventus have one point more than they did at the same stage last season when they were top of the table with a four-point lead over AS Roma and AC Milan.
The only worry is Argentine playmaker Paulo Dybala’s lacklustre form.
“It’s not going so well for Dybala at the moment but it happened at this stage last season too,” said Allegri.
“Paulo needs to relax and keep doing the simple things, training hard and finding the right fitness levels.”