Serie A
Juventus vs Bologna Preview
Juventus will look to maintain their 100 per cent start to the new Serie A season as they face Bologna at the Allianz Stadium.
The defending champions have been in formidable form scoring 11 goals in five league games.
They defeated Frosinone on Sunday thanks to late goals from Cristiano Ronaldo and Federico Bernardeschi.
Bologna in contrast have made a poor start to the season. They failed to score in their four Serie A games.
They earned their first win of the season by defeating Roma 2-0 on Sunday. As a result they will be heading to Turin full of confidence.
The victory was their first under new boss Filippo Inzaghi, who will be returning to face his former side where he made his name as a player.
It will be a tough ask for them to make it two wins in a row against the defending champions.
Team News
Juventus boss Massimiliano Allegri has a number of injuries to contend with.
Sami Khedira, Mattia De Sciglio, Andrea Barzagli and long term absentee Leonardo Spinazzola are all sidelined. While, midfielder Douglas Costa is still suspended.
Paulo Dybala is expected to start as Allegri rotates his squad.
Goalkeeper Matteo Perin is in line to make his debut with Wojciech Szczesny being rested.
It is expected that Mario Mandzukic and Giorgio Chiellini will also be rested.
Meanwhile, Bologna have a number of injuries to contend with.
Rodrigo Palacio, Andrea Poli, Godfred Donsah and Filip Helander are all out injured.
Furthermore, Erick Pulger continues his three match suspension. Strikers Orji Okwonkwo and Diego Falcinelli will battle it out to partner Federico Santander up front.
Previous Encounters
Bologna have an awful recent record against Juventus.
Their last victory came in 2011, where they defeated them 2-0 in Turin. Since then they have lost 10 of their last 13 encounters against Juventus.
Juventus won both meetings with Bologna last season quite comfortably. The Serie A champions scored six goals in both league games.
Predicted Line-Ups
Juventus (4-3-3) Perin, Cuadrado, Bonucci, Benatia, Cancelo, Emre Can, Pjanic, Matuidi, Dybala, Bernardeschi, Ronaldo
Bologna (4-4-2) Skorupski, Calabresi, Danilo, De Maio, Mattiello, Svanberg, Nagy, Dzemaili, Dijks, Okwonkwo, Santander
Match Prediction
Juventus look in fantastic form and should keep up their 100 per cent start to the Serie A season.
It will be interesting to see how Dybala plays alongside Cristiano Ronaldo.
The game is a great chance for some players to stake a claim for a regular starting spot.
It will be interesting to see who takes their chance ahead of a vital game against Napoli at the weekend.
For Bologna it is about damage limitation. They will sit back and try to hit Juventus on the counter attack.
Also, they have to improve up front, if they are to remain in Serie A.
Overall Juventus should win with plenty to spare.
Prediction: Juventus 3-0 Bologna
Photo credit to Donald Trump via Flickr
