Davide Ballardini has already commenced weaving his sorcery at Genoa as he has won his first two league games in charge of the Grifone. The former Lazio tactician registered a 1-0 victory over Bologna on his debut and last weekend led his side to a similar result in Cagliari.
Back-to-back wins have propelled Genoa to ninth place in the league table on 17 points, just two behind Roma, who are sixth and occupy the final Europa League position. Club supremo Enrico Preziosi splashed the cash in the summer for the Rossoblu to fight for a European place and under Ballardini the team seems to be doing just that.
But winning against Juventus at home is not going to be easy especially as the Bianconeri themselves are back in the race for the Scudetto. Genoa have lost at the Marassi in the league already and given Juve’s squad, they may like to keep their feet on the ground.
Scudetto Challenge Back On
Juventus’ 1-1 draw with Roma in the league last weekend stretched their unbeaten run to 11 games in all competitions and put them in fourth spot with 20 points from 12 matches. Juve may be six points behind leaders Milan but after a dismal start to the campaign they will be forgiven to believe that they are now back in the title chase.
Coach Luigi Del Neri has started to convince as a big-team coach as his tactics and ability to change them have been impressive of late. Furthermore, with a squad that is incomplete, has suffered with injuries to key players and a leaky defence the former Sampdoria tactician has done a very impressive job.
However, for a club like Juventus success is judged by the titles won at the end of the season and Del Neri will have to maintain his side’s consistency to see that towards the end of the 2010-11 campaign the Vecchia Signora are in a position to win the championship.
Juve’s away form is modest as they have won twice in six attempts in the league but they have conceded just three goals on the road. Winning in Genoa is going to be tough for the visitors from Turin but they will be tempted to give it a go in an effort to maintain pace with Milan.
TEAM NEWS
Genoa
Jankovic, Sculli and Palladino are out of this fixture because of injuries. Rudolf, Toni and Mesto will be the three strikers up front in a 4-3-3 formation that will have Rossi, Milanetto and Veloso as the three midfielders.
Juventus
Buffon, Legrottaglie, Rinaudo, Grygera, De Ceglie, Martinez, Manninger and Amauri are injured for the visit to Genoa and Pepe is suspended. Star player Krasic is fit but Del Neri may not start him yet, opting for Lanzafame instead.
Prediction
Juventus are looking very good and encouraged at the moment but so are Genoa, who have won their last two league matches. It promises to be a very competitive game of football and it could end in a draw.
Genoa 1-1 Juventus 
