Juventus take on Serie A rivals Cagliari in Turin on Saturday evening, looking to continue their solid run and head into November's international break with a fifth win on the bounce.
Cagliari themselves are in good form as well, as we look into their recent run and key players in detail below:
STATE OF FORM
After wins against Frosinone and Genoa in the league, Cagliari could win three Serie A matches in a row for the first time since April 2021.
As of October 2023, no team has scored more Serie A goals than Cagliari (nine, equal to Bologna and Roma), however, in the same period, Juventus are the only ones not to have conceded a goal.
Six of Cagliari's last seven league goals have come from substitutes, including all of the last four (Pavoletti's brace and goals from Viola and Zappa). In fact, only Napoli (seven) have scored more goals with players coming on during the match than Cagliari (six) this season.
Cagliari is one of the three teams, with Inter and Milan, to have not yet conceded a headed goal in the league so far this campaign.
PLAYER FOCUS
Among the players who have scored at least 50 goals in Serie A in the last 20 seasons (since 2004/05), Leonardo Pavoletti is the one who has scored the most goals in the second half in percentage terms (71%, 44/62) – in the same period, and taking into consideration the same players, he is also the one who scored the most headed goals in percentage (48%, 30/62).
Andrea Petagna (48) is close to scoring 50 goals in Serie A; furthermore, the Italian striker is still without a goal for the Sardinians in the top league. His last goal dates back to the one he scored for Monza against Atalanta on 4 June.
Among the players with at least three goals in this Serie A championship, only Matías Soulé (15/04/2003) is younger than Zito Luvumbo (09/03/2002) – two of his three goals scored this season have come in away.
Alessandro Di Pardo made four appearances for Juventus in the 2020/21 season.
Nicolas Viola has scored two goals in this championship, only in 2020/2021 has he done better in a single season in Serie A (five with Benevento) – furthermore the Cagliari player has been involved in at least one goal in three games in a row (two goal, one assist) for the second time in Serie A, the first in April 2021 with the Benevento shirt.
Juventus is the team against which Gianluca Lapadula has played the most games in Serie A (six), among those against which he has not yet scored or provided an assist.
Antoine Makoumbou has been on the pitch for 984 minutes this season, more than any other Cagliari player.