On Saturday night in Turin, two of the biggest teams in Serie A will square off when Juventus takes on Antonio Conte's Napoli.
Even though Juve is still unblemished and had a fantastic Champions League comeback midweek, the visitors recovered from a first-day loss to win all three of their subsequent games.
After a year away, Juventus made their Champions League return on Tuesday, taking on free-scoring Eredivisie champions PSV Eindhoven. Although they lost their perfect record, Thiago Motta's team prevailed 3-1 in their league phase opening.
Kenan Yildiz opened the score, and goals from Nico Gonzalez and Weston McKennie put the points beyond PSV's grasp. Even a late goal conceded in stoppage time could not detract from the impressive win.
Juve began the season with a bang under new manager Motta, winning three straight games by scores of 3-0 before faltering and drawing two straight games against Roma and Empoli.
For the sixth time ever, the Bianconeri have started a Serie A season with four straight clean sheets. This season, they might contend for the championship after adding a number of new players to their roster along with a few young talents.
But coming into Saturday's match, Juventus is behind Napoli by a point, with shock leaders Udinese ahead by one after their two draws before the international break.
When one of their all-time great managers returns to Turin this weekend, Juventus will look to continue winning at home against Napoli, where they have triumphed 10 of their previous 13 meetings, including a 1-0 victory last season.
It will not be the first time that Conte faces his team in Allianz Stadium and he will not be emotional as he seeks to outsmart his former team.
Napoli has, in fact, won six out of their last nine theatricversus Juventus in Serie A-as many as in the previous 22-and going by recent trends, they could likely emerge this time around.
After beginning the season with some difficulty, where the team managed to just qualify for the Coppa Italia round of sixteen and then lost their Serie A season opener to Hellas Verona 3-0 -, the Azzurri have subsequently shifted into a higher gear and sit provisionally second in the league table with nine points from a possible 12.
Three consecutive victories with an average of three goals per match has however brighten up the spirit in Naples especially after a recent 4-0 battering of Cagliari.
Khvicha Kvaratskhelia and Romelu Lukaku scored goals in Sardinia, and now Napoli can achieve four consecutive Serie A victories for the first time since the beginning of last year when Luciano Spalletti’s team were rollicking their way to the title.
A title run this term should not be ruled out, alongside from having Conte in the technical area, they can afford to rotate most midweek fixtures since they didn’t qualify for Europe in a disastrous 2023-24 season.
An exception to this will be next week through a Coppa Italia match against Palermo but for now Napoli will aim at beating one of their biggest rivals.
