Next Tuesday, 6th of January 2015, two major Italian powerhouses, Juventus and Inter Milan, will measure forces at Juventus Stadium in Turin for round 17 of the Italian Serie A, on a match of paramount significance for the home side, who wants the keep their closest contenders of AS Roma at bay, and for the visitors, who are currently on a modest 11th place of the league table.

After a fantastic streak of consecutive wins, Juventus entered a somewhat less positive period, in which they’ve only won one of the five matches they took part in. The defeat against Napoli for the Italian Super Cup was certainly a huge blow to the current Serie A champions and it might have a negative effect on the team for the matches to come.

After a home win against the super Sampdoria of Sinisa Mihajlovic, Juventus clinched an important win on their visit to the island of Sardinia, where they overcame Cagliari by 3-1, putting an end to three consecutive matches in a row with a single win.

Juventus’ new boss, Massimiliano Allegri, is still trying to pass his own game ideas to the team, who was deeply committed to Antonio Conte’s style after his long stewardship at the Vecchia Signora. The experienced Italian manager is also dealing with some criticism from the pundits, who keep claiming that the team’s game style is still confusing.

The match against Inter Milan will certainly not be an easy one, and for that particular clash Massimiliano Allegri will probably not be able to rely on the contribution of Romulo, Asamoah and Barzagli, who remain sidelined due to injury.

As for Inter, they are once again having a season to forget as they currently occupy the 11th place of the table. The arrival of their former manager, Roberto Mancini, hasn’t been enough to motivate the Milanese side, who keep presenting inconsistent performances one after another. The January transfer window brought good news to the former Manchester City’s manager, who will from now onwards be able to rely on the services of the versatile German forward Lukas Podolski that arrived on loan from Arsenal.

Before the festive break, Inter didn’t manage to get anything better than a draw when they hosted Lazio at San Siro, something that could be considered a good result if we have in mind the Rome’s team current campaign.

Although they are not probably enjoying their best period, Juventus are firm favourites to clinch the three points from next Tuesday’s match against Inter Milan.

Juventus

Stats: W-1 L-1 D-3

Recent Form - DWLDD

Inter Milan

Stats: W-2 L-1 D-2

Recent Form - DDLWW

Possible Line-ups

Juventus (4-3-1-2) - Buffon - Lichtsteiner - Bonucci - Chiellini - Evra - Pogba - Pirlo - Marchisio - Vidal - Tevez - Llorente

Inter Milan (4-3-3) - Handanovic - D’Ambrosio - Ranocchia - Juan - Dodo - Kovacic - Kuzmanovic - Guarin - Nagatomo - Palacio - Icardi

Prediction

Juventus 2 Inter Milan 1