Juve can close on fourth straight Scudetto with win over Fiorentina

Juventus hold a 14-point lead over Lazio in the Serie A title race, but the Roman outfit play Parma who are bankrupt and about to go down, so the Old Lady look unlikely to seal the Scudetto this midweek.

Max Allegri’s men can, however, take the penultimate step to a fourth straight domestic crown by beating foes Fiorentina, and are odds-on 8/13 favourites with Coral for victory. These two teams meet yet again, having contested a two-legged Coppa Italia semi-final and drawn 0-0 in Florence in league action.

Both Juve and the Viola have one win apiece, so there’s nothing to choose between them on head-to-heads this term. Another draw is a 3/1 shot, while Vincenzo Montella is 4/1 to upset the Turin team on their own turf.

Fiorentina were the last team to topple Juventus at home in the Coppa first leg, but since then Allegri’s side have won all five fixtures before their own fans to nil. Another Old Lady win without conceding is a 17/10 chance, but taking this price would be to ignore some top talent in violet shirts.

Montella’s men may have no wins in three on their travels, but their ensemble cast have shared the goals around. Mario Gomez is Fiorentina’s leading marksman on just 10 across all competitions, but we are talking about a seasoned centre forwards that has won championships at club level and challenged for World Cups and European titles for his country when fit.

German frontman Gomez is a 2/1 anytime scorer chance for the Viola here. Egypt winger Mohamed Salah, on loan from Chelsea, meanwhile, has also impressed since joining the Florentine team, and bagged a brace in the Coppa Italia first leg win, so is better in the same market at a tasty 10/3.

Hosts Juve will welcome a return to home comforts after losing their first Turin derby in over 20 years across town at Torino last time out. In midfield, Paul Pogba continues to miss out injured, but playmaker Andrea Pirlo netted a peach of a free-kick last time out and is 9/4 to score again.

Given Alessandro Matri and Alvaro Morata’s failure to net on derby day last time out, they can be expected to be rotated, read dropped, by Allegri. That means returns up front for Serie A top scorer Carlos Tevez (an odds-on 10/11 anytime chance here) and big Basque target man Fernando Llorente (better at 6/4 after already scoring against Fiorentina this term).

Taking odds of 15/2 on a 2-1 Juventus win here looks a smart investment.