Juventus will welcome Empoli to the Juventus Stadium this weekend as the Old Lady look to continue their march towards regaining the Serie A title after drawing on the opening day to Udinese with a 2-2 draw where they led 2-0.
It was also the first game back in the Serie A for the serial winner, Max Allegri, as he won five titles with Juventus and the one with AC Milan, which incidentally, was the last time a club other than Juventus won the title before Inter Milan did so last season.
Despite the return of Allegri and the departure of star figures elsewhere in Italy, Juventus seemingly still have their work cut out to win back the Serie A. In fact, after drawing 2-2 with Udinese, the club must win here if they are to remind us all that they are the undisputed kings of Italy.
Much of the attention around the Old Lady has surrounded the future of Cristiano Ronaldo, with reports across the continent suggesting he is set to leave the giants of Italy for Manchester City.
With this said, just as he did so last time out, he will not start and will also not be in the matchday squad at all it seems.
Back in the draw with Udinese, Paulo Dybala and Juan Cuadrado got their first goals of the season and if Ronaldo is to depart and not play this game, the Argentine Dybala is going to be vital for them moving forward.
As for Empoli, they will be happy to take anything away from this game with this being the first of the season at Juventus’ home ground, and given the speculation around the club and the need for a win.
Empoli hosted Lazio last time out in the league and they were blown away by the travelling side from Rome, as Ciro Immobile, Manuel Lazzar,i and Sergej Milinkovic-Savic managed to score, while Filippo Bandinelli bagged for the home side.
The club are also back in the top flight for the first time after winning Serie B last time out, where they topped the table with 73 points as they lost just three times all season long.
In reality, they won’t put up much of a threat for Juventus and the home side should get all three points here. They will be out for vengeance, and Forebet predicts they will win by a 3-0 scoreline and make easy work of this fixture.