Still undefeated this season, Juventus have a chance to move clear of Serie A co-leaders Lazio when the teams meet today at the Stadio Olimpico.
Juventus, who beat Palermo 3-0 last weekend, took advantage of Lazio’s goalless draw at Napoli to move back to the top of the standings.
“For us this is a game with a capital ‘G,’“ Juventus coach Antonio Conte said. “I’ve been saying for a while that Lazio has the ability to have a top season. We will have to be careful.
“We have grown but none of us want to focus on where we are. Our feet will remain firmly on the ground. I’m hearing a lot of compliments but we still haven’t done anything.”
Milan and Udinese are both one point behind. Milan will have to recover from its midweek loss to Barcelona when it hosts Chievo tomorrow.
Milan lost 3-2 at the San Siro on Wednesday, but the manner of the defeat and the flowing football the teams played will do little to dissuade Conte and many others that Milan remainsfavourites to retain its Serie A title.
However, Milan vice president Adriano Galliani is eager to see the team get back to winning ways after it was held to a goalless draw at struggling Fiorentina last week.
“Saturday night we were happy and we didn’t win,” Galliani said. “Against Barcelona it was the same. I hope to have a really awful Sunday night but with a victory this time.”
Fiorentina will take that draw against Milan as a sign of improvement in Delio Rossi’s first game as coach. Sinisa Mihajlovic was fired after the Tuscan side lost at Chievo 1-0 in its previous game.
Udinese moved temporarily into first place whenthey hosteds Roma yesterday and won with goals from Di Natale and Isla. Roma were looking for a third straight win, but both those victories came against teams in the bottom three - Lecce and Novara.
Napoli has not had a good run of form lately and had won only one of its past seven matches heading into the Champions League game with Manchester City.
However, Edinson Cavani scored two goals on Tuesday to hand Napoli a 2-1 win and what could prove to be a decisive advantage in the race for the knockout stage.
Napoli travels to Atalanta knowing that a win could push it into fifth but a loss could send it spiraling further down a tight table.
Inter, who were held to a 1-1 draw at Trabzonspor in the Champions League, travel to Siena.
Inter beat Cagliari 2-1 last weekend but are still dangerously close to the relegation zone with only 11 points from 10 games.
Also, it’s: Lecce vs. Catania; Novara vs. Parma; Cagliari vs. Bologna; and Cesena vs. Genoa.