It seems Juventus fans expected different results from Thiago Motta's coaching staff after his arrival in the off-season. As they prepare to face Fiorentina, the Turin side sit one place below, with the latter holding a three-point advantage in terms of points lost.
Juventus remain the only team in Serie A without a defeat. Last weekend, they ended a run of four draws by defeating Monza (2:1) and posted a relatively low xG of 1.49 against the underdog. Yet, Juventus lead Serie A by a margin in xGA (12.66)—even without injured Gleison Bremer and Danilo Luiz, they maintain a reliable defensive line.
The latter half of December has shown that Fiorentina lack the squad depth to compete in two tournaments. They failed to pick up points against Bologna (0:1) and Udinese (1:2) in Serie A, and were held to a draw by Vitória in the Europa Conference League (1:1), accruing a total xG of 3.91 over 360 minutes. In their last six away matches, only once has the total over 2.5 been reached—Fiorentina managed to score more than one goal just once in this period.
In recent seasons, matches between Juventus and Fiorentina have been rather subdued—both teams to score hasn’t occurred in three consecutive meetings. It appears both managers might opt to adopt a conservative approach in this head-to-head, not wanting to concede points to each other.
