Alessandro Del Piero, Juventus
An in-form Juventus will travel to Rome where they will take on an exceptionally weakened Roma at the Stadio Olimpico on Monday evening.
The Capital city side will be without three players for the match as Juan, Fernando Gago and Bojan Krkic will all be serving a suspension following their dismissals against Fiorentina last Sunday afternoon, while Marco Cassetti is injured.
Meanwhile, Pablo Osvaldo is set to return following his internal suspension by the club after he punched teammate Erik Lamela, which saw the club ban him for a match and fine him. His return will prove vital as the loss of Gago and Bojan will prove costly, given the fact that the Giallorossi are yet to score in over 216 minutes of play.
The Bianconeri have to make do without Mirko Vucinic as he has been sidelined until the New Year after picking up a lesion to his thigh, but the return of Alessandro Del Piero has added an extra boost.
The veteran was taken off just eight minutes into his 500th league cap for the Old Lady, due to a collision with Cesena’s Marco Rossi’s high boot.
It remains to be seen whether or not Andrea Pirlo will feature for Antonio Conte, as he has opted to rest the deep lying playmaker in the Coppa Italia match on Thursday against Bologna.
The former Milan man has been struggling with a knee injury of late, which has been evident in his performances, and should he be fit to play on Monday he will be returning from his one match suspension which ruled him out against Cesena.
For Roma a win will prove absolutely vital in order to turn their season around and keep up the pace with the top half of the table; while for Juventus a win would mean keeping their slender lead at the top of the rankings.