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A22 Italian Preview:
SPORTSFriday 22 January 2016 A tough task for Roma and
coach Spalletti at Juventus
English Preview:
Arsenal looks to boost title hopes with Chelsea DANIELLA MATAR
Associated Press
DAVID GERGES Fixtures between Arsenal guided the Blues to four MILAN (AP) — Roma coach Luciano Spalletti needs to
LONDON (AP) — Chelsea and Chelsea have been draws and one win in his turn things around and fast.
will make the short journey notorious for the regularity first five league games. However, if his first match in charge last week should
across London to the Emir- with which Mourinho would The squad is largely void of have been one of the easiest, this weekend’s is pos-
ates Stadium to face an Ar- taunt Wenger. the confidence that it ex- sibly one of the hardest.
senal side looking to end its The Portuguese coach uded last season as it won The draw against rock-bottom Hellas Verona was met
12-year wait for the league would often remind his the title at a canter. with boos but a similar result at Juventus — which is
title. counterpart of his trophy Last season’s player of the looking for an 11th consecutive victory — would be a
While the defending cham- drought and branded year Eden Hazard has yet positive result.
pion has endured a disas- Wenger a “specialist in fail- to score and misses out “We’re expecting a tricky match against an oppo-
nent which is full of confidence and is in the middle of
Manchester City’s Pablo Zabaleta, top, fights for the ball against Crystal Palace’s Jason Puncheon a great comeback,” Roma midfielder Miralem Pjanic
during the English Premier League soccer match between Manchester City and Crystal Palace at said. “It’s not by chance they won four successive titles
the Etihad Stadium, Manchester, England, Saturday Jan. 16, 2016. ... we’ll do our utmost to win.”
Roma has won only one of its past eight matches, slip-
(AP Photo/Jon Super) ping to fifth in the table, nine points behind Serie A
leader Napoli.
trous season culminating in ure” back in February 2014. through injury, and while Juventus has climbed up the standings to second, and
Jose Mourinho’s dismissal, It will undoubtedly come striker Diego Costa has could move top for the first time this season if Napoli
the Gunners are level at as a relief to the French- struggled for consistency slips up at Sampdoria earlier on Sunday.
the top of the standings. man to see a different man this season, three goals in Inter is four points behind Napoli and will be looking
In the most unpredictable standing alongside him on his last four appearances to capitalize on any mistake from the top two when it
of seasons, the touchline on Sunday, will be of some concern to hosts relegation-threatened Carpi.
Leicester, a side that was given his atrocious record the Gunners defense. Also Sunday, it’s: Fiorentina vs. Torino; Lazio vs. Chievo
bottom of the table in April, against Mourinho. Verona; Palermo vs. Udinese; Sassuolo vs. Bologna;
shares the lead with the Just one win in 15 attempts TOTTENHAM’S TITLE TILT and Hellas Verona vs. Genoa.
Gunners, while Manchester against the former Blues A win for Tottenham away AC Milan visits Empoli on Saturday night, after Frosin-
City is a point adrift in third. boss, to Crystal Palace on Satur- one hosts Atalanta.
The onus is on Arsenal to a narrow 1-0 win in the day could provisionally lift Here are a few things to know about Serie A entering
win the title, Community Shield, high- Mauricio Pochettino’s side this weekend’s matches:
with several rivals struggling lighted the superiority to within two points of the
for form. And with Bayern Mourinho had in matches summit. DZEKO DOWN IN THE DUMPS
Munich head coach Pep that ultimately mattered. Spurs responded to losing When proven goalscorer Edin Dzeko arrived at Roma
Guardiola available at the Indeed, a 2-0 home win at at home to Leicester with a in the summer, he was perceived as the solution to the
end of the season, man- Stamford Bridge, 4-1 thrashing of relegation- club’s attacking problems.
ager Arsene Wenger will be while Mourinho was still in threatened Sunderland Roma had scored just 54 goals the previous season —
hoping his side capitalizes charge, saw the visitors fin- before exacting some re- by far the worst of any side in the top six.
on its chance or face the ish the game with nine men venge over the Foxes by Things appeared to be going according to plan when
insurmountable criticism after Gabriel and Santi Ca- beating Dzeko opened his Serie A account against Juventus in
and calls for his departure zorla were dismissed. Claudio Ranieri’s side 2-0 his second match, but the Bosnia and Herzegovina for-
that will likely ensue. Guus Hiddink, in an FA Cup third-round ward has scored just two league goals since — both
Here are some of the talk- who is back at Chelsea for replay on Wednesday.An- penalties.
ing points ahead of Sat- the second time in his man- other London derby pits the “When you play in a club which is as important as
urday’s Premier League agerial career, has been North Londoners against Roma, it’s talked about if you go through a period
matches: tasked with salvaging its Alan Pardew’s side, with- which isn’t brilliant,” Spalletti said. “That’s what’s hap-
miserable campaign. out a win in five league pening to Edin. But with our squad, we have the ability
NO MORE MOURINHO However, so far he has matches.q to manage to help him get himself out of this negative
period.”
Dzeko recently posted on his Instagram account a pic-
ture with the words “you have to fight through the bad
days in order to earn the best days.”
RECORD-CHASING FORM
Juventus is back with a bang.
After spending much of the first half of the season clos-
er to the relegation zone than the title, Massimiliano
Allegri’s side is now second, just two points off top spot.
“We’re focusing on ourselves in the league,” Juven-
tus defender Stephan Lichtsteiner said after scoring in
Wednesday’s 1-0 victory over Lazio, which booked the
side a spot in the Italian Cup quarterfinals. “The teams
around us are playing well, even Roma isn’t out of the
title chase yet, but we’ll take things game by game.
“It doesn’t matter if it’s Spalletti or (Rudi) Garcia (in
charge of Roma). q
