Juventus v Genoa: The Old Lady will keep on having fun

Juventus v Genoa
Wednesday February 03, 19:45
Live on BT Sport ESPN

Dungannon Swifts lost 6-0 last night, and we're moving swiftly on.

We're cheering ourselves up with a touch of Italian glamour now, as Juventus take on Genoa in Serie A.

Champions Juve made their worst start to a season in over a hundred years, but they have recovered in extraordinary fashion. Max Allegri's men have reeled off a club-record equalling 12 wins on the spin in the league, and in all competitions they have won 15 of their last 16 games.

This surge has left the Bianconeri just two points off top spot. Paul Pogba has been finding some of his best form (he scored and hit the bar in the weekend's 4-0 win at Chievo), Argentinian attacking dynamo Paulo Dybala is having a wonderful debut season (12 league goals) and a teak-tough defensive unit has conceded a league-low 15 goals.

Genoa are just five points above the dropzone, but they have recovered somewhat recently, collecting eight points from their last four games. One problem the Rossoblu have is that they simply don't score against the top sides. In six matches against the current top five this season, they have scored the grand total of zero goals. Zilch, zip, null.

In Juventus' last five games in all competitions, they have kept five clean sheets, and overall they have managed 11 shut-outs in their last 15 outings.

Given these stats, you could play this in two different ways. You could argue that if Juventus aren't likely to concede, there's a good chance they'll beat a modest Genoa side by two clear goals, just as they did when they won the reverse fixture 2-0. This might lead you to back Juventus -1.5 on the Asian Handicap at [2.01].

You could also just back Juve to win to nil at 1.90, as they have done in seven of their last nine home games in all competitions. If you go for this option instead, you're effectively guarding against Juve winning 1-0, which they have done four times this season, including in two of the last five games.

I'm going for the slightly bigger price, but both options have evidence to support them.

Recommended Bet

Back Juventus -1.5 on the Asian Handicap at [2.01]