SERIE A
Frosinone - Juventus live: Serie A 2018: as it happened
The Serie A leader were forced to dig deep against a dogged Frosinone side with two lates goals enough to see Juve maintain winning run.
Frosinone 0-2 Juventus live online: as it happened
Frosinone vs Juventus live online: match preview
Juventus will seek to maintain their perfect start to the season against newly promoted Frosinone after winning their opening four league games to open up a two-point lead at the top of the Serie A table. The Italian champions backed that run up with a 2-0 win over Valencia in Europe despite being reduced to 10 men following Cristiano Ronaldo’s dismissal in Mestalla, Miralem Pjanic scoring twice from the spot and Wojciech Szczesny saving a late Dani Parejo spot-kick to kick-start Juve’s European challenge in convincing style.
Frosinone
The Canaries are back in Serie A for only the second time in their history and have found it tough going so far, failing to find the net in their opening four games and conceding 10 at the other end. A 0-0 draw against fellow strugglers Bologna – who are also to score this season – has been the sole ray of light in what looks to be shaping up as a Herculean battle against going straight back down for the home side on Sunday.
An expansive side willing to go toe-to-toe with Juve is unlikely; Moreno Longo has favoured a 5-3-2 this season and the hosts can be expected to approach the match in a spirit of damage limitation. Costa Rica international Joel Campbell returns to the squad after injury and offers a different dimension off the bench but regular strike partnership Stipe Perica and Camillo Ciano will start in the continued absence of the injured Federico Dionisi, Frosinone’s third-highest scorer of all time.
Longo will also be without promising Uruguay under-20 striker Joaquín Ardaíz but can call on returning forwards Daniel Ciofani and Andrea Pinamonti as Frosinone look to open their Serie A account against the reigning champions.
Juventus
Ronaldo finally got off the mark for his new club last weekend away at Sassuolo, opening his account with a tap-in and then hammering a trademark left-footed effort on the run to seal a 2-1 victory for Massimiliano Allegri’s side. That game was not without its controversy, but it was Douglas Costa not Ronaldo who saw red in stoppage time after picking up a yellow for elbowing Federico Di Francesco then a straight red for spitting at the same player.
Costa is injured as well as suspended for Sunday’s game, joining Sami Khedira, Andrea Barzagli and Mattia De Sciglio on the sidelines. Allegri has one of the richest squads in Europe and while those absences rob Juve of plenty of experience, when the likes of Pjanic, Paolo Dybala and Juan Cuadrado are not guaranteed a start a coach can hardly complain about a lack of resources.
In the Stadio Benito Stirpe, Allegri is likely to field Ronaldo as a central striker with support from Dybala, Mario Mandzukic and Federico Bernadeschi. Emre Can and Pjanic will patrol the engine room in front of a flat back four with Cuadrado a possibility to come in at right back to hand João Cancelo a rest.