MY ACCOUNT
Juventus began their pursuit of a first Scudetto since 2020 with a 3-0 win at home to Sassuolo last Monday and now turn their attention to an away trip to Sampdoria.
The hosts, meanwhile, started the 2022-23 campaign with a 2-0 loss at home to Atalanta and will be hoping to chalk up their first point of the season against the Old Lady.
Team news
Defender Andrea Conti is set to miss out for hosts Sampdoria, who could also be missing young midfielder Simone Trimboli, who is a doubt.
Summer signing Angel Di Maria picked up an injury on his Juventus debut last week and will be unavailable for this match along with Paul Pogba, Federico Chiesa and first-choice shot-stopper Wojciech Szczesny.
Wide player Filip Kostic, who joined from Eintracht Frankfurt this summer, could, meanwhile, be in line for his full debut after coming on from off the bench last time out.
The stats
Sampdoria were not overly convincing at home in Serie A last season, falling to defeat in 10 of their 19 matches, winning six, at the Stadio Luigi Ferraris as they ended up in 15th place in Serie A.
The hosts should keep close tabs on Juventus forward Dusan Vlahovic, who bagged a brace against Sassuolo last time out, taking his overall goal tally for the Turin giants to 11 goals in 22 games.
And Juve can also draw confidence from the fact they have won each of their last seven meetings with Sampdoria, prevailing 3-1 in the corresponding fixture last term.
Prediction
Having finished an underwhelming 15th in Serie A last season, Sampdoria have also endured a tricky summer with little money having been made available to manager Marco Giampaolo to strengthen his squad.
They have also not been helped by the permanent departures of Mikkel Damsgaard to Brentford and Gianluca Caprari to Hellas Verona.
That leaves them light on options in the final third and it is hard to envisage anything but a win for Juventus, who lost only four times on the road in the league last term, when these sides clash in Genoa.
Back under Massimiliano Allegri, Juventus still look some way off the level they need to be to pip Inter and AC Milan to top spot this season but the win over Sassuolo should give them confidence.
The Old Lady still managed to finish in the top four in Serie A last season and were runners-up in the Coppa Italia, and the signings of Di Maria, Pogba, Kostic and Gleison Bremer represent good summer business.
Juve won all three of their clashes with Sampdoria in the 2021-22 season with each of those matches featuring over 2.5 goals.
Given how Juventus have started the season and the fact that leaky Sampdoria are missing right-back Conti for this one, this encounter could also produce at least three goals.
And Vlahovic, once again, looks likely to get in on the goals, having scored against Sampdoria last season when plying his trade for former club Fiorentina.
