Italian Serie A
2008-09-24 - Juventus vs Catania
A Sports Betting Pick by Gooner
Italy, Serie A
Stadio Olimpico
Wednesday 24th September 2008 - KO 19:30 GMT
JUVENTUS
The Juventus of Claudio Ranieri is not an exciting side with a pair of 1-0 wins and a 1-1 draw to their name after three matrches it's fair to say that "winning ugly" is what the OLd Lady is doing right now.
Mind you, Ranieri has had plenty of injuries to cope with as Alessandro Del Piero, David Trezeguet, Mauro Camoranesi and Christian Poulsen were all missing last Sunday afternoon.
Amauri filled the attacking gap and scored the only goal of the game as Juve beat Cagliari 1-0 in Sardinia, demonstrating Juve’s strength in depth.
Former Arsenal goalkeeper Alex Manninger will fill in Gigi Buffon, who is expected to be back in time for Juventus’ trip to Sampdoria on Sunday, and has a good record against the Sicilians.
Catania
Catania have started the season well and currently sit in 5th place in the standing after a 1-0 home win over Atalanta.
However, like most mid-table Italian sides their form is almost completely determined by the venue as Catania have won both home matches, and lost their only away game - all results decided by a single goal margin.
The Elefanti have a quality ex-Juve youth porduct in striker Michele Paolucci who could well come back to haunt Juventus in this game - as he is the foucs of most Catania attacks.
HEAD TO HEAD
These two sides battled to a pair of 1-1 draws last season, so Catania have proved in the past that they can frustrate Juve.
PROBABLE TEAM LINE-UPS
Manninger;
Grygera, Legrottaglie, Chiellini, Molinaro;
Marchionni, Sissoko, Marchisio, Nedved;
Amauri, Iaquinta
Catania :
Bizzarri;
Sardo, Silvestre, Stovini, Silvestri;
Biagianti, Ledesma, Tedesco;
Martinez, Paolucci, Mascara
The Statistics :
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The Pick :
Juventus 1-0 Catania (maybe 2-0)
