Juventus are in the Serie A relegation zone after four matchdays on the peninsula. The Bianconeri have hit rock bottom following the departure of Cristiano Ronaldo to Manchester United.
On Wednesday night, the Old Lady visit Spezia, who were promoted to Serie A in 2020. Thiago Motta’s team have started the season decently for a side relatively new to Serie A. Spezia have taken four points from 12 possible, two more points than Juventus after four matchdays.
Setting sights on #SpeziaJuve 💪— JuventusFC (@juventusfcen) September 20, 2021
Setting sights on #SpeziaJuve 💪
As it stands, Wednesday’s game between Spezia and Juventus is a six-point affair. Juventus have won just once in five games this season with the victory coming in the Champions League against Malmo.
On matchday 4, Juventus drew 1-1 with AC Milan. Juventus led at halftime through Alvaro Morata’s fourth minute goal. However, the Old Lady conceded with 14 minutes to play to sink to the 1-1 draw.
Last season, Juventus won home and away against Spezia in Serie A by a combined score of 7-1. This Juventus team is completely different than the one from last season. The squad is paying for the dependence it had on Ronaldo for three seasons.
Ronaldo’s importance at Manchester United and the team’s dependence on him to score goals shows just how reliant Juventus were on the forward. The Old Lady have scored just four times this season while conceding six goals in the league.
Spezia have scored five goals and conceded 10 this season in the league. They have allowed the league’s third-most goals after four games.
Max Allegri will be without the duo of Arthur and Kaio Jorge. Both players have thigh injuries. Wingers Federico Bernardeschi and Federico Chiesa are in contention to play despite some lingering injuries.
Matthijs de Ligt could start in central defence after Allegri watched the side concede six times in four games in the league. Rodrigo Bentancur and Manuel Locatelli have been Allegri’s recent choices to play in central midfield.
Spezia centre-back Martin Erlic is ruled out with a hamstring injury. Petko Hristov is likely to take his place in defence with Kelvin Amian and Dimitris Nikolaou.
Spezia play a 3-4-3 formation while Allergi’s Juventus are likely to go with a 4-4-2.
Rey Manaj is on loan from Barcelona and could start in attack. The team is led in goals by defender Simone Bastoni.
Based on the form of both teams and Juventus’s inability to win a match, this game could finish in a score draw. Juventus are struggling and a plucky Spezia could take points off of the Old Lady at home.
Juventus are 10 points off of first-place Napoli and dropping more points could completely rule out Juventus winning the league and possible qualifying the Champions League.