Round 2 Preview - Serie A

Article by Daniel Pisani

Some very interesting match ups this weekend in the Italian Serie A as the clubs face round 2 of the competition. From here on in I will preview one stand out game along with predictions for the rest of the fixtures.

STAND OUT MATCH:

Juventus FC vs S.S Lazio @ Juventus Stadium

These two clubs only faced off 2 weeks ago in the Italian Super Cup in which Juve ran out 4-0 winners and sent a strong message to the league after a very slow and flat pre-season.

Lazio are coming off a home win against Udinese in which they got off to a flier but their 2nd half performance was patchy and the players seemed tired. Petkovic has made it clear that this match is an early chance for Lazio to redeem themselves after that humiliating defeat against Juve in their own stadium. Miroslav Klose is still looking to score against Juve, something he has not been able to do.

The fact that this game is being played at the Juventus Stadium makes me believe that Juve are right to be heavy favourites as the fans in Turin have yet to see their side play at home since winning the Scudetto back in May.

Carlos Tevez, Fernando Llorente and Angelo Ogbonna will make their Juventus Stadium debut and I know the ULTRAS are eagerly awaiting their presence.

A player that needs to stand up after a quiet start is Hernanes, who lit up the league last year with midfield partner Candreva. The talent and system is definitely there for Lazio, so it's a matter of how the occasion will present itself to them to see if the sky blues can overcome the loud ULTRAS to concentrate in their game plan.

With Marchisio still out, Paul Pogba will continue to partner Pirlo and Vidal in the middle. I also would not be surprised if Antonio Conte throws Llorente up front from the 1st minute. Conte could change his formation to test the Vucinic, Tevez and Llorente combination.

I'm expecting Juve to win and win well again with maybe a 3-0 score line this time and first goal scorer prediction is Llorente but if Fernando is not starting i'll hand it to Lichtsteiner who can make it 3 years straight of scoring the 1st goal of the Home season for Juventus.

ROUND 2 Predictions:

Chievo Verona vs Napoli - - (0-2)

Juventus vs Lazio - - (3-0)

Roma vs Hellas Verona - - (2-1)

Atalanta vs Torino - - (2-2)

Bologna vs Sampdoria - - (1-0)

Catania vs Inter Milan - - (2-1)

Genoa vs Fiorentina - - (1-3)

AC Milan vs Cagliari - - (3-1)

Sassuolo vs Livorno - - (2-0)

Udinese vs Parma - - (1-1)

UEFA CHAMPIONS LEAGUE DRAW:

3 clubs will be representing Italy in Europe's biggest club competition so let's look at how they fared.

GROUP B - JUVENTUS F.C, will be taking on FC Copenhagen, Galatasaray and the mouth watering clash against European rivals Real Madrid in which Juve have a great record against. But that record only kept well whilst Del Piero was on the pitch, Now with Alex playing for Sydney FC and not being able to beat Casillas for the 5th time in 8 years the scoring will be left to maybe Tevez or Vucinic.

GROUP F - S.S NAPOLI, are faced with one could argue to group of death with trips to Arsenal, Marseille and last seasons finalists Borussia Dortmund. I'm expecting Rafa's European experience to tell here and guide his side out of the group and through to the knock out stages along with Borussia Dortmund who will top the group.

GROUP H - AC MILAN, here is the group of death with AC having to again face Barcelona for the 3rd straight year as well as playing the youthful Ajax and the never say die attitude of Celtic. To be honest I'm not sure if AC Milan can get out of this group with Barcelona and Celtic tickling my fancy to qualify but let's hope for Italy's ranking system in UEFA that AC do well.

Until next time guys:

Follow me on Twitter @dpisani23 and @e-seriea

Daniel Joseph Pisani #23

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