Juventus vs Catania

Juventus and Catania will meet at the Stadio Olimpico di Torino for their week 21 match. The two sides are coming off of draws in their last contests but while Juve are at least coming home, Catania are being asked to recover the points they lost at home last week against one of the most in form sides in Serie A.

The side managed by former Chelsea boss Claudio Ranieri are coming off of a big 1-3 victory away to Livorno in week 20 at the Stadio Armando Picchi. It was another commanding performance by the vecchia signora which extended their current unbeaten run to 11 consecutive matches. Also impressive is the fact that they have allowed only 4 goals over their past 8 matches during the unbeaten run. Despite the strong run however, Juventus are finding it hard to move up the Serie A table. Through 20 rounds they sit 3^rd in the league table with 40 points for the year. They are 5 back of 2^nd place AS Roma and 10 behind league leaders Inter Milan. There will be a couple of notable absences again this week as starting keeper Gigi Buffon remains out while Zanetti and Iaquinta are suspended. The good news is that Mauro German Camoranesi and the club’s newest signing Sissoko will be available off of the bench. Belardi should spell Buffon once more in the net.

Catania played to a 0-0 draw last week when they hosted Parma at the Angelo Massimino. It was an extremely frustrating result for the side managed by Baldini given that it is at home where they have been able to earn the lion’s share of their points this season. In fact, they have yet to win a single match away from home through 10 matches. The draw leaves them in 12^th place of the league table with 23 points. They are one point back of 11^th place Napoli, and 2 up on 13^th place Livorno. The club will be without the services of the injured Sabato this week while Vargas and Edusei will be sitting out as they server their respective suspensions.

This match is leaning towards Juventus. Not only are they unbeaten in their last 11 matches, they have lost just 1 match at home this season and a loss to Inter Milan which eliminated them from the Coppa Italia earlier this week will only serve to motivate them even more. The fact that Buffon will not be in goal did not seem to hurt them much last week at Livorno. Catania are a nice club but it is not likely that they will be getting their first road win of the season away to Juventus.

Prediction: Juventus (2-1)