Aiming to continue their long dominance of the Turin derby, Italian giants Juventus will visit city rivals Torino on Saturday evening.
Ahead of the 183rd clash between them since 1929, Juve are unbeaten in Serie A this season - and in 21 games against Toro.
Match preview
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November's win at the Allianz Stadium brought up the Bianconeri's 19th straight home game without losing to their neighbours, extending a record run in the Derby della Mole.
Juventus have also been tough to beat throughout this season, but they suffered just a second setback - and their first in domestic competition - in last week's Supercoppa Italiana semi-finals.
Letting a lead slip against AC Milan during the second half, Manuel Locatelli clumsily conceded a penalty and Federico Gatti scored an unfortunate own goal, meaning Juve missed out on a place in the decider.
Thiago Motta's men have also endured plenty of frustration in Serie A so far, summed up by their most recent outing, a 2-2 draw with Fiorentina that saw the Viola draw level after 87 minutes.
That result may have made it 18 league games unbeaten but also left them trailing behind Italy's top four as they approach the midpoint of Motta's first campaign.
Losing to the old enemy is, therefore, totally unthinkable. After the reverse fixture ended 2-0 to Juve with goals from Timothy Weah and Kenan Yildiz, only a derby double will do.
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This century, Torino have won just one of 36 games against Juventus - losing 27 - and that sole success dates back to April 2015, when Matteo Darmian and Fabio Quagliarella found the net for Toro; Andrea Pirlo scored Juve's goal.
Paolo Vanoli's current squad come into this contest amid a worrying downturn, having started his reign brightly before tailing off significantly as autumn turned to winter.
After failing to win their last match of the calendar year for an eighth straight season, the Granata were held to a goalless draw by promoted strugglers Parma in their first fixture of 2025.
With wins thin on the ground, Vanoli is under pressure to produce a turnaround: Torino are six points down on their halfway tally at this time last term, and only once in their last 11 Serie A campaigns have they posted fewer.
Across the last 10 league matches, Toro have scored just four goals, and having also won only twice at home so far, they start this Derby della Mole as long-shot outsiders.
Team News
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Both Dusan Vlahovic (muscular) and Francisco Conceicao (thigh) are set to sit out the Turin derby, as they have been training individually this week due to muscular injuries.
Juventus are also without Manuel Locatelli - who must serve a suspension - while long-term absentees Arkadiusz Milik, Bremer and Juan Cabal are still sidelined and Danilo seems bound for a mid-season exit.
In the absence of Vlahovic, versatile forward Nico Gonzalez could deputise as a false nine, with support from Teun Koopmeiners. The latter scored the first of his two Serie A hat-tricks against Torino back in September 2022, but he has registered just one goal and three assists since joining Juve from Atalanta.
Weston McKennie is expected to continue at left-back, as Andrea Cambiaso has been laid low by illness and may not be sufficiently fit to start.
Meanwhile, Torino are hopeful that Saul Coco and midfield fulcrum Samuele Ricci - the latter of whom recently signed a new three-year contract - can overcome injuries sustained against Parma.
Perr Schuurs and Duvan Zapata are both out for the long term, with the latter's absence leaving misfiring strikers Che Adams, Yann Karamoh and Antonio Sanabria to battle for places up front.
Once again, Toro will rely on one of Serie A's most consistent stoppers: since the start of last season, only two goalkeepers have collected more clean sheets across Europe's top five leagues than Vanja Milinkovic-Savic (24). Furthermore, the Serbian also ranks third for save percentage (76%).
Torino possible starting lineup:
Milinkovic-Savic; Vojvoda, Maripan, Coco; Lazaro, Ricci, Linetty, Sosa; Vlasic, Karamoh; Adams
Juventus possible starting lineup:
Di Gregorio; Savona, Kalulu, Gatti, McKennie; Locatelli, Thuram; Yildiz, Koopmeiners, Mbangula; Gonzalez
We say: Torino 0-1 Juventus
Derby dominators Juventus can keep another clean sheet against Torino's ailing attack, so it could be a matter of making the breakthrough and then sitting tight to collect maximum points.
Even if they fail to find the net during the first hour or so, Juve can rely on a psychological edge: in 10 of their last 13 league games against the Granata, they have scored at least one goal from the 70th minute onwards.
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.
Jonathan O'Shea
