Juventus vs Siena

Juventus return home to host bottom dwellers Siena at the Stadio Olimpico di Torino hoping to continue to keep pace with the league leaders Inter Milan. Siena have been anything but brilliant during the first half of this season but there is some light at the end of the tunnel for Beretta’s side as they are unbeaten over their last 3 matches.

Juventus come into Round 17 in 3^rd place of the Serie A table with 32 points on the season. They are just 1 point behind 2^nd place AS Roma. They picked up a superb road win in their last outing when they defeated SS Lazio by a score of 2-3 at the Stadio Olimpico di Roma. That result extended their current unbeaten run to 7 matches of which that last 2 have been victories. Even more impressive is the fact that Claudio Ranieri’s boys have conceded just 2 goals in their last 4 matches. In attack, David Trezeguet continues to pace the club and the entire Serie A with 12 goals for the season. Mauro German Camoranesi remains out due to injury and Salihamidzic looks set to take over his spot on the right flank once again while Tiago should get the call in place of Nocerino who is suffering from the flu.

Siena are currently in 16^th place of the league table with 14 points and find themselves 2 points back of Genoa. In their last match they were held to a disappointing draw by a score of 1-1 at home to Napoli at the Stadio Artemio Franchi. The result did stretch their unbeaten run to 3 matches but what is worrisome is that they continue to drop points at home. In fact, they actually play better away from home. On the injury front this week it has been confirmed that Chiesa remains out due to injury while Vergassola will return to his place on the right side of midfield after serving suspension last week. Beretta will keep the 4-3-1-2 formation with Locatelli as play maker behind Maccarone and Frick.

Despite the fact that Siena are on a 3 match unbeaten run and have played better on the road than at home, it is still extremely hard to pick against Juventus. They are playing some very intelligent football at the moment and players such as Nedved and Trezeguet still make a difference. The bianconeri have won 19 out of a possible 24 points at home.

Prediction- Juventus (2-0)