Italy Serie A : Chievo vs Juventus Match Preview

Serie A leaders Juventus travel to Verona this afternoon in a bid to win three more points and maintain the pressure on title rivals AC Milan.

Antonio Conte’s side go into the match as favourites, with the best price available on a Juventus win the 11/10 with Paddy Power and bet365. A stalemate could hand the league lead over to Udinese, and can be backed at 9/4 with Ladbrokes. Chievo are currently mid-table, but they are 16/5 with William Hill to delight their fans with a home win.

Given Napoli’s unexpected 2-1 defeat against Parma last night, Juventus will be keen to make inroads at the top of the table against their closest Serie A rivals. Former player David Trezeguet this week commented how his former team-mate Conte is doing a brilliant job, and this could well be the first Juventus side to win the Scudetto since 2003.

Chievo are unbeaten in their last three matches against Juventus, but they will face a rejuvenated side this afternoon at the Stadio Marc’Antonio Bentegodi. Punters should also bear in mind that Domenico Di Carlo’s side have only lost one of their previous seven matches at home, and even so that was against Udinese.

In the correct score betting, a 1-0 win for Juventus is the favoured outcome at 11/2 with Irish bookie Paddy Power. A 1-1 draw is also a runner at 6/1 with William Hill, but Juventus fans may be keener about backing a 2-0 away win at 9/1 with Coral. 2-1 to Juventus is at 8/1 with Boylesports, and Chievo’s best chance of a win is 1-0, which is a 9/1 shot with bet365, who will refund losing correct score bets if the match finishes 0-0.

Chievo coach Domenico Di Carlo is expected to go with the same starting XI that drew 0-0 with Cesena in their last fixture before the international break after the players who represented their countries - Alberto Paloschi (Italy Under-21), Bojan Jokic and Bostjan Cesar (both Slovenia), Kamil Vacek (Czech Republic), Rinaldo Cruzado (Peru) and Michael Bradley (USA) - were all given a clean bill of health.

The Verona-based side's only doubt is veteran Brazilian midfielder Luciano, who is still struggling with an injury to his right thigh muscle