Resurgent Roma will host an ailing Juventus side in Serie A's Sunday night showdown, with the teams separated by just three points in the standings.
Once title contenders, Juve now find themselves outside Italy's top four looking in, and their Roman rivals can catch them with an eighth straight league win.
Match preview
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Though it took a late Artem Dovbyk strike to finally break the deadlock down in Lecce last week, Roma still racked up their seventh successive Serie A victory, taking them above arch-rivals Lazio in the table.
Most certainly back in the mix for a top-four finish, the Giallorossi's revival in 2025 has been quite spectacular, as folk hero Claudio Ranieri enjoys a golden third stint at his boyhood club.
During their ongoing run, Ranieri's men have conceded just one goal, keeping as many clean sheets (six) as throughout the first 23 league matches of what was once a troubled campaign.
Roma could now win eight top-flight fixtures in a row for just the fifth time ever - and the first since Luciano Spalletti's team did so back in 2016 - by beating Juventus.
In a multi-team scrap for European qualification, Fiorentina, Lazio and AC Milan have already been overtaken, so Ranieri will be intent on drawing level with one of his former clubs this weekend.
Unbeaten in eight of their last 10 Serie A home games against Sunday's visitors - having found the net in nine - recent history suggests the Giallorossi can join Juve on 55 points before tackling their city rivals in next week's Derby della Capitale.
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Yet, following a goalless draw in September's reverse fixture, Juventus have lost only one of their last nine league meetings with Roma.
The Bianconeri are also a relatively unknown quantity under new management, after Thiago Motta was recently removed following heavy back-to-back losses and Igor Tudor was handed the reins until the campaign's conclusion.
Tudor - who won two Scudetti with the club as a player - has previously managed Hellas Verona and Lazio in Italy's top flight, after working as an assistant to Andrea Pirlo in Turin.
He inherited a squad that had posted the club's fewest wins after 29 league games since 2011, but last week's 1-0 win over Genoa at least saw the former Croatia defender make a successful start.
Only a fine Kenan Yildiz finish separated the sides at full time, but that was enough to keep Juve within one point of fourth-placed Bologna with eight games to go.
After embarrassing exits from the Champions League and Coppa Italia - to PSV Eindhoven and Empoli respectively - the fallen giants simply must salvage something from another sub-par season by securing their return to Europe's top competition. If not, they face financial crisis.
Team News
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Having been without versatile defenders Zeki Celik and Devyne Rensch last week, Roma can recall both on Sunday, with the latter resuming full training after almost a month on the sidelines.
Paulo Dybala was recently ruled out for the rest of the season, Alexis Saelemaekers is suspended, and captain Lorenzo Pellegrini has been hampered by a calf injury; so, Juventus youth graduate Matias Soule leads a queue of contenders to support lone striker Artem Dovbyk.
Meanwhile, veteran defender Mats Hummels has just announced his imminent retirement, with the curtain coming down on an illustrious career next month.
Between the posts, Mile Svilar is the Giallorossi's undisputed number one, drawing interest from several Premier League clubs: this calendar year, he has the second-best save percentage throughout Europe's top five leagues (85%).
Furthermore, Svilar and Juventus goalkeeper Michele Di Gregorio (both 12, along with Inter Milan's Yann Sommer) have kept the joint-most clean sheets in Serie A this season.
Federico Gatti has now joined Juve's absence list, so Igor Tudor has a selection headache to resolve in defence, where he prefers a three-man rearguard.
Up front, Dusan Vlahovic - out of favour at the tail-end of Thiago Motta's tenure - should spearhead a 3-4-2-1 formation, linking up with Kenan Yildiz. Last week, the latter equalled Moise Kean with the most Serie A goals scored for Juventus while still a teenager (seven) throughout the 21st century.
Roma possible starting lineup:
Svilar; Celik, Mancini, Ndicka; El Shaarawy, Kone, Cristante, Paredes, Angelino; Soule; Dovbyk
Juventus possible starting lineup:
Di Gregorio; Kalulu, Veiga, Kelly; Weah, Locatelli, Thuram, McKennie; Gonzalez, Yildiz; Vlahovic
We say: Roma 1-0 Juventus
Juventus (17) and Roma (18) have conceded the fewest goals from open play in Serie A so far, and they played out a 0-0 draw in this season's reverse fixture. So, one moment of magic - or madness - could decide a contest between two well-matched teams.
Given their new-found resilience, the Giallorossi can edge to an eighth league win on the spin, taking them level on points with their once-distant rivals.
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.
Jonathan O'Shea
