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After thrashing Fiorentina in the Serie A last weekend, league leaders Juventus are set to host title rivals Inter Milan during a mouthwatering clash at the Allianz Stadium on Friday.
The Old Lady have been almost untouchable to start the campaign with only a single defeat and draw during the campaign thus far. In rampant form, they have 13 league victories - and a 1-1 draw against Genoa - having only dropped just two points during 14 fixtures to date.
After being held by AS Roma last week, Inter are set to face their biggest challenge in the domestic campaign as they travel to Turin to face the reigning champions. A win for the Nerazzurri will inflict Juve's first domestic defeat while cutting down their lead atop the table to five points - provided rivals Napoli beat newly-promoted Frosinone on Saturday afternoon.
Juventus will open a whopping 14-point gap between themselves and Inter, should they win.
Juventus vs Inter Milan: Kick-off Information
Date: December 7th, 2018
Time: 20:30pm (local time), 01:00am (IST)
Venue: Allianz Stadium, Turin
Livestream: SonyLiv
Team news as both sides have notable absences through injury...
Andrea Barzagli (thigh), Sami Khedira (ankle) and Alex Sandro (knock) are all sidelined through their respective injuries, while midfielder Rodrigo Bentancur faces a late fitness test having sustained a back problem earlier this week.
Emre Can (thyroid) has returned to full training and could feature, but is yet to achieve 100% match fitness after his last appearance was in early October.
Luciano Spalletti will be without Belgian midfielder Radja Nainggolan (muscular) and full-back Dalbert (pulled calf), though first-choice right-back Sime Vrsaljko (thigh) could potentially return.
Predicted line-ups:
Juventus (4-3-3): Szczesny; Cancelo, Bonucci, Chiellini, De Sciglio; Bentancur, Pjanic, Matuidi; Dybala, Mandzukic, Ronaldo.
Inter Milan (4-2-3-1): Handanovic; D’Ambrosio, Skriniar, De Vrij, Asamoah; Vecino, Valero; Politano, Brozovic, Keita; Icardi
Form and head-to-head guide
Over the past five competitive matches, Juventus have won four and lost once - a last-gasp defeat by Manchester United in the Champions League group stages.
Inter meanwhile, have only registered one victory in their last five games. Draws against Barcelona and Roma have been sandwiched by a 4-1 thrashing by Atalanta, as well as Tottenham's important 1-0 Champions League group stage win last week. They were comfortable 3-0 winners against Frosinone, though.
In this fixture, Juventus are usually favourites and judging by the pair's head-to-head, it's easy to see why. They have won 85 times to Inter's 52, while there have been 49 draws in this fierce clash over the years.
Prediction
A real test awaits Juventus, but ahead of a crucial fixture against PSV Eindhoven in midweek, Inter could be tempted to hold something back.
The failure to keep a clean sheet in four of their previous five matches is an alarming problem for Inter, against a free-scoring Juventus side who have attacking brilliance across the pitch - not just solely with Paulo Dybala and talisman Cristiano Ronaldo.
Prediction: Juventus 2-1 Inter Milan
