Second plays sixth, and interestingly, it’s Lazio who are in second spot at the moment. But this is the toughest match they’ve had to date in Serie A, and Juventus are on a decent run at the moment in a fixture where they’ve had plenty of success in the past, so check out our betting tip that reflects that, our summary of where the teams are at and a couple of good pieces of trivia.
Betting Tip: Juventus to Win and Over 1.5 Goals
Lazio have made an excellent start to the season, not just unbeaten in six, but with five of those being wins, so they’re not one of those teams that avoid losing just by drawing all the time.
It leaves them in second place and only behind Inter Milan on goal difference; Lazio are currently +7 while Inter are +10.
To be fair, they’re yet to play the biggest sides, as the calendar has been kind to them so far, so this will be one of the first proper tests of the season for them.
One big advantage they have over the likes of Inter, Como, AC Milan, Napoli and their hosts this weekend, Juventus, is that they’re not playing in Europe, meaning they can focus 100% on Serie A thanks to fewer matches, less travelling and no need for squad rotation, and that could make a big difference come the end of the season.
This is by no means a team of superstars, with Lazio focusing on buying players that fit in with the system, are hard-working and disciplined; left-back Nuno Tavares and midfielders Davide Frattesi and Kenneth Taylor are good examples of that.
As for Juventus, their start to the season has been steady rather than spectacular, with three wins, two draws and just one defeat to Sassuolo so far.
One of those draws was at the hands of Cagliari last week, where we rightly predicted a low-scoring game with under 2.5 goals in it, and it ended 1-1, so that was a good winner for us.
They went one better in midweek, beating Celta Vigo 2-1 in the Europa League after falling behind 1-0, thanks to goals from on-loan forward Nick Woltemade and substitute Kolo Muani.
As regards this particular fixture, you’d have to go back to 2017 for the last time Lazio beat Juventus in Turin, a 2-1 win for the Roman side, and since then it’s been all about Juventus, with six wins and two draws since that away win.
So, it’s a fixture that Juventus have enjoyed over the years and, as hinted already, there’s a feeling that, good as Lazio are and a team that will always give it their all, they’ve played some of the easier teams in the league so far, such as Monza and Venezia. That means their table position reflects an easier start to the campaign, and when the tougher games start coming, they'll start dropping down a few places.
After all, they finished just ninth last season, so securing a Top 4 finish this time round would be a big achievement.
So we’ll take a gamble on a Juve win, who have taken seven points from their three home league games so far, beating Parma and Atalanta 2-0 and drawing 1-1 with Milan.
The straight Juve win pays 1.7, but we can bump it to 2.1 by adding over 1.5 goals.
We’d have to go back to the first game of the season when they beat Frosinone 1-0 away for the last Juve match where there weren’t at least two goals in one of their games, with the next seven all going that way, so with 2-0, 2-1 or even 3-0 looking lively runners, this bet covers all those outcomes, and a few others.
- Prediction: Juventus to win and over 1.5 goals
- Odds: 2.1 (at the time of writing)
Did You Know?
Juventus winger Francisco Conceicao is the son of former Portugal, Porto and Inter Milan winger Sergio Conceicao. But father Sergio is best known in Italy for spending two seasons at his son’s opponents this weekend, Lazio, playing 67 times and scoring seven goals between 1998 and 2000, before returning for another season in 2003-4 with less impressive results.
As a manager, Sergio holds the record for the most matches ever managed for Porto, before going on to manage AC Milan, where he led the Rossoneri in a match last season against his son’s club, Juventus, with Francisco playing in that very game.
Fun Fact
Gennaro Gattuso currently manages Lazio, but it wouldn’t be a good idea to bet he’ll still be there next year, whatever happens for the rest of the season.
Since starting his managerial career in 2013 at Sion in Switzerland, Gattuso has managed 12 different teams in just 13 years, including AC Milan, Valencia, and Marseille. Before this, he managed Italy, where he lost a play-off to Bosnia, meaning Italy didn’t qualify for the World Cup again.
