MILAN – Serie A leader Juventus will look to extend its unbeaten league run to 21 games this season at Parma on Tuesday and move four points provisionally clear at the top of the standings.
Juventus is the only club still unbeaten in Serie A, with every other team having lost at least three games.
“We’re performing beyond the most rose-colored predictions,” defender Giorgio Chiellini said. “We were convinced we could have a very good season but we were also coming off the back of two difficult years and in summer, although we didn’t start building again from zero, we changed a lot.
“We’ve been good in immediately finding a balance and a style of play and now we’re continuing to grow. It’s a process that has not stopped yet and it has to continue if we want to achieve a dream.”
Parma is unlikely to pose Juventus much of a challenge, having won just once in its past 10 games.
Juventus gave another solid performance on Saturday by beating third-place Udinese 2-1 to remain a point clear of second-place AC Milan, which faces Lazio on Wednesday in a rematch of last week’s Italian Cup clash. Milan won that match 3-1.
Tuesday will also be significant in that the transfer window closes at 7 p.m. local time (1800 GMT) and Juve has not ruled out strengthening its squad still further.
“If tomorrow we sense the possibility of improving the squad, we will do so,” general director Giuseppe Marotta said on Sunday. “We shouldn’t hide, the numbers are on our side. We’re unbeaten and we have to act out the role of protagonists. We will fight until the end so that we can give everyone a glorious finish.”
Milan is likely to chase Juventus all the way and the current Serie A champion is still clinging close after a comfortable 3-0 win against Cagliari as the bid for the title swiftly looks like developing into a two-horse race.
“The table’s stretched out a bit now,” Milan coach Massimiliano Allegri said. “It was important to win to remain in Juventus’ wake and to create a gap between third and fourth after the weekend’s results.”
Allegri is also unconcerned that midfielder Alexander Merkel will be out for at least two months with a knee injury.
“I’m sad to have lost Merkel for two months,” he said. “However, it’s not a worry for me because Emanuelson played very well. This lad has grown a lot in the last few games, also because he has played in a run of games.”
Maxi Lopez could make his debut after the new signing was on the bench for Milan at the weekend.
Lazio will present a tougher challenge than Cagliari. It beat Chievo Verona at the weekend to leapfrog above Inter Milan and into fourth place in the standings. Any slip up from Udinese, which faces rapidly-improving Lecce, could see Lazio move into third in the table.
Inter is a point behind Lazio after a surprise loss to Lecce at the weekend which snapped the Nerazzurri’s seven-match winning streak in the league.
Claudio Ranieri’s team hosts Palermo, which has picked up just three points on its travels all season.
Elsewhere, it’s: Atalanta vs. Genoa; Bologna vs. Fiorentina; Cagliari vs. Roma; Napoli vs. Cesena; and Siena vs. Catania. On Thursday rock-bottom Novara faces Chievo.
