Undoubtedly, the pick of this weekend’s fixtures in the Italian top flight features the clash between hosts, Roma, and last season’s Serie A title-winners, Juventus, with the Stadio Olimpico providing the backdrop to what is expected to be an absorbing contest.
Roma finished last season in 5th place on the Serie A ladder but ended some eight points adrift of Lazio and the top four pack as last season saw a distinct gap open up between the top four and the chasing teams.
Nevertheless, it was a successful campaign for Roma who won a total of 21 matches within their 38 matches played and suffered just five defeats at home throughout the whole of the term, while goals also featured in Roma’s impressive run-in towards the end of last season.
Roma won seven of their final eight matches to claim 5th place and automatic qualification for this season’s Europa League and all eight of these matches also produced three goals or more with the highlights being a 6-1 win on the road at SPAL and a last-day 3-1 win away from home at Sunday’s upcoming opponents, Juventus.
There were also goals in Roma’s opening match of this new season but they were all for their opponents as they suffered a heavy 3-0 loss to Hellas Verona.
Juventus claimed the Serie A title at the end of last season but it was hardly convincing as The Old Lady limped rather than sprinted across the finish line as the visitors lost three of their final four matches of the season.
It was only a 2-0 home win over Sampdoria which ultimately secured the title for Juventus by what turned out to be a narrow one-point margin over runners-up, Inter Milan, but defeats to Udinese, Cagliari and Roma did little to appease manager, Maurizio Sarri’s tattered nerves.
Sarri has since been replaced in the Juventus hot-seat by former playing legend, Andrea Pirlo, and Juventus gained another win over Sampdoria on the opening day of this new Serie A season with a commanding 3-0 home win to start their title-defence in positive fashion.
Pirlo will be desperate for his side to improve on the road though as the visitors ended last season with a whimper, collecting just three wins from their final nine matches on their travels, but seven of these nine resulted in over 2.5 goals.
It’s early days but goals should feature in this block-buster.