Serie A: Roma vs. Juventus Preview, Odds, Prediction

A few years back, Roma and Juventus would battle for the title, yet now they are outside the Champions League zone. For sure, Jose Mourinho didn’t think that his stint with Il Lupi would be this turbulent. He’s been through lots of ups and downs since the campaign began. The same is with Juventus, who is fifth in the standings, only three points ahead of Roma. The Old Lady isn’t anywhere near the level of play from the previous years when Cristiano Ronaldo played. Whether it is that because they had too many players at the recent EURO, we don’t know, but the drop in quality of their performances is just way too low.

Preview

AS Roma (+230) suffered a 3-1 loss to Milan in the recent round. Yet not only that, Mourinho will now have to appear without two of his standard players, Mancini and Karsdorp, who received red cards, and are unable to play.

Following three wins, Roma failed to post a triumph in the latest two events. The first was at home against Sampdoria, 1-1, and after that in Milan. The inconsistency has been the major problem for Mourinho and his unit, and Il Lupi can’t put on a decent streak of positive results over the past three months.

Their recent games saw a solid amount of goals, and four of the past five were with both teams netting, and three during that streak ended with over 2.5 scores.

Juventus (+115) is without a loss in the latest seven games. The Old Lady won five of those contests, while two ended with a draw, among them the most recent with Napoli. The guests from the south took the lead, but Federico Chiesa leveled the score. Unfortunately for the home side, they couldn’t score once more until the end, despite heavy pressure.

We want to point out that in all five victories, Juventus kept its net intact. Each time they’ve posted a solid result, it was because of their defense, because the offense and the midfield aren’t too creative and powerful. We saw that in the European matches. Still, for the Serie A challenges, it is quite enough.

Nine of the last 10 games Juve played were with under 2.5 goals, which tells a lot about their style of play. The Old Lady is a slow, patient, and experienced crew that knows how to play on the result.

Latest News

Roma has seveal players out. Darboe and Diawara are at the African Cup of Nations, Fuzato is ill, the same as Borja Mayoral, while Spinazzola is still recovering from his Achilles injury. As said, Karsdorp and Mancini are suspended.

Alex Sandro, Bonucci, Danilo are unavailable for the guests. Aaron Ramsey is questionable.

Head to Head

The first meeting this year ended with Juve’s minimal victory, 1-0. Kean was the sole scorer at Allianz Stadium, with his goal coming after only 16 minutes of play.

Prediction

Roma is on the downhill when looking at their performances, and on top of that, Mourinho has enormous trouble with absent players. That will give a solid advantage to Juventus, who isn’t shinny either, but still has what it takes to beat Il Lupi.

Pick: Juventus Wins +120

Here is the preview for Inter Milan vs. Lazio game.