Juventus, known for their defensive prowess, will be looking to maintain their undefeated start to the season as they travel to Genoa for their match at Stadio Luigi Ferraris on Saturday.
Juve are the only team in Europe’s top five leagues that hasn’t conceded a league goal yet this season. In contrast, Genoa comes off a loss in Serie A last week and a defeat in the Coppa Italia derby.
After a tense 0-0 draw with Napoli, coached by their former boss Antonio Conte, Juventus has now drawn three straight league matches without scoring. While their strong start included back-to-back 3-0 wins under new head coach Thiago Motta, they’ve struggled to find the back of the net in recent Serie A games, though they did secure a 3-1 victory against PSV Eindhoven in the Champions League.
Juve has a chance to keep clean sheets in all six of their opening Serie A matches, potentially setting a record for the most consecutive goalless draws in their history. Currently sitting two points behind city rivals Torino, who surprisingly lead the league,
Juventus not only wants to maintain their strong defense but also regain their scoring touch especially from struggling striker Dusan Vlahovic, who had just six touches before being substituted last week.
In terms of offensive stats, Juventus finds themselves in the bottom half of Serie A for total shots and shots on target, ranking 17th in touches inside the opponent’s box.
Motta returns to his old club, where he played and managed, aiming for improvement after last season’s two meetings with Genoa ended in draws with just two goals scored between the sides.
In their last nine league encounters at Stadio Luigi Ferraris, both teams have four wins each and one draw. Genoa is currently unbeaten in their last three matches against Juventus, bouncing back from a previous streak of five straight defeats.
However, Genoa has faced setbacks lately, including a 2-0 loss to newly promoted Venezia, leaving them 17th in the Serie A standings with just five points from five matches.
Their confidence took another hit when they lost to their bitter rivals Sampdoria in the Coppa Italia midweek. Despite taking an early lead through Andrea Pinamonti, they conceded a late equalizer and lost in penalties.
With the pain of recent defeats fresh in their minds, Genoa will be looking to avoid further disappointment when Juventus visits Marassi this weekend.
INJURIES & SUSPENSION
Juventus will welcome back Federico Gatti at full fitness this week, which means either Pierre Kalulu or Nicolo Savona could be left out of the lineup for Saturday’s match.
Bremer will anchor Juve’s defense, having scored twice against Genoa before, including his first Serie A goal back in November 2019. In fact, over the past six seasons, he’s recorded the most headed goals (13) of any defender in Europe’s top five leagues.
Dusan Vlahovic, the club's top scorer for 2024, will continue to lead the attack despite only scoring once in his last 10 league appearances—a brace against Hellas Verona last month. Arkadiusz Milik remains sidelined with an injury, but Portuguese winger Francisco Conceicao is back in team training and could return to the bench.
On the other side, Genoa has not relied on a single scorer, as their last 12 Serie A goals have come from different players. Most recently, former Juve defender Koni De Winter scored in a 1-1 draw with Roma.
Juventus-owned midfielder Fabio Miretti is back to fitness and might play this weekend. However, Junior Messias and Ruslan Malinovskyi—who suffered a season-ending injury last week are both out. With Caleb Ekuban struggling with a muscle issue, it looks like Vitinha and Andrea Pinamonti will lead the attack for the hosts.
POSSIBLE LINE-UPS
Genoa possible starting lineup:
Gollini; De Winter, Bani, Vasquez; Sabelli, Thorsby, Badelj, Frendrup, Martin; Vitinha, Pinamonti
Juventus possible starting lineup:
Di Gregorio; Savona, Gatti, Bremer, Cambiaso; Locatelli; Gonzalez, Thuram, Koopmeiners, Yildiz; Vlahovic
EXPERT PREDICTION
Genoa 0-1 Juventus
Both teams struggle to find the net, so this matchup between two promising coaches is likely to be a tactical battle that could be decided by a single goal.
With the depth they’ve built up after a summer of spending, Juventus should be able to break their Serie A drought and hand Genoa their third consecutive defeat.
