A wildly inconsistent Juventus endeavour to bounce back from a midweek Europa League disappointment against lowly Spezia on Sunday evening.
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Ever since the 2-0 dire defeat against Monza, Juventus have shown green shoots of the recovery, and have won three of their last four matches in all competitions, including a three-match winning run domestically.
However, Max Allegri's stumbled at home to Nantes in the Europa League playoffs despite lining up with a deadly and creative front-three of Dusan Vlahovic, Angel Di Maria, and Federico Chiesa.
To be fair, the Bianconeri showed great attacking adventure in their midweek encounter. They took the lead in the 13th minute thanks to a brilliant team goal that saw Vlahovic get on the scoresheet and looked to be potentially headed towards a big win over a completely unimpressive Nantes side, who sit 13th in Ligue 1.
But that’s where things became frustrating for Juve, who rattled the Nantes woodwork thrice without any luck before conceding on a counter-attack.
The 1-1 draw at home meant Juventus' disappointing season continued, but Sunday’s trip to managerless Spezia represents an ideal opportunity for Juve to make amends.
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Recent results have not been favourable for Spezia, who are in 17th place in the league table at the moment and are without a win in five games in all competitions, a dismal run that resulted in the sacking of manager Luca Gotti.
To complicate matters worse further for the Aquilotti, they just lost their top scorer Nzola to injury and are without a number of key players for the encounter on Sunday.Given Juventus’ strong defensive record and Spezia’s poor form, this should be a lop-sided affair.
Spezia vs Juventus confirmed lineups
Spezia XI (3-5-2) : Dragowski; Amian, Caldara, Nikolaou; Gyasi, Bourabia, Ampadu, Agudelo, Reca; Verde, Shomurodov
Juventus XI (3-5-2) : Szczesny; Danilo, Rugani, Sandro; Cuadrado, Paredes, Locatelli, Rabiot, Kostic; Kean, Vlahovic
Spezia vs Juventus LIVE updates
Juventus's upcoming fixtures
Following their encounter with Spezia, The Old Lady of Turin will make the the trip to Stade de la Beaujoire for the second leg of the Europa League playoff round against Nantes, with the two-legged tie finely poised at 1-1 after the first game at the Allianz Stadium.
They will return to league action with a home game against Torino, followed by another league encounter against Jose Mourinho's AS Roma at the Stadio Olimpico in March.