Serie A champions Juventus kick off their new campaign on Sunday as they take on Sampdoria on home soil.
Having won the last nine domestic titles, the Old Lady once again look the favourites to claim glory this campaign at odds of 10/11 with Betfair. Meanwhile, Claudio Ranieri’s Sampdoria have their own aspirations throughout 2020/21, aiming to improve on their 15th-placed finish having been involved in a relegation scrap for the majority of the campaign. This time, I Blucerchiati are at a price of 7/2 to drop into the second tier of Italian football at the end of the campaign.
Heading into the first match of the campaign, the visitors could not really have a tougher assignment. Juventus have only lost one out of their last nine Serie A openers, whilst they only fell to defeat once on home soil in the league last term. Although, that did come in their final match at the Juventus Stadium last season in the form of a 3-1 defeat to AS Roma. They have not lost two consecutive home league games since early 2011. Sampdoria have also not managed to win away from home against Juventus in any competition in their last 15 matches in a run that stretches back to January 2013.
All the signs then point to a Juventus victory on Sunday and the bookies concur with that prediction at a price of 27/100 with William Hill. Sampdoria to earn a shock result sits at 10/1. Meanwhile, a draw on the opening weekend sits somewhat more fancied at 9/2.
There could well be a few changes to the Juventus lineup for the clash, with midfield duo Arthur and Weston McKennie arriving from Barcelona and Schalke 04 respectively. It remains to be seen whether the duo will be included from the start. Meanwhile, Miralem Pjanic has departed for Barcelona, whilst Gonzalo Higuain and Blaise Matuidi have both joined MLS outfit Inter Miami. There are also a couple of injury concerns, with Paulo Dybala, Matthijs De Ligt and Federico Bernardeschi all out injured. Naturally then, it is Cristiano Ronaldo who is the favourite to open the scoring at a price of 8/5 with Paddy Power.
Meanwhile, Sampodoria’s team could also have a slightly different complexion. Karol Linetty has left for fellow Italian club Torino, whilst Felice D’Amico is out injured and Kristoffer Askildsen is suspended. One eye will certainly have to be kept on veteran Sampdoria forward Fabio Quagliarella. The former Juventus man hit 11 goals in the league last season and is at 8/1 to net first.