By ,
Published January 08, 2015
Rome, Italy (SportsNetwork.com) - Juventus will shoot for a fourth consecutive win across all competitions on Saturday when the three-time defending Serie A champions return to league play to face Lazio at the Stadio Olimpico in a top-five clash.
The Old Lady enters Saturday's clash on top of the Serie A table with 28 points, three clear of second-place Roma, and coming off a 7-0 drubbing of Parma in league play prior to the international break.
The Bianconeri opened the scoring against Parma after just 23 minutes through Fernando Llorente and Stephan Lichtsteiner doubled the advantage six minutes later.
Llorente completed his brace in the 36th minute to give Juve the comfortable 3-0 lead at the intermission. The second half was more Juve as Carlos Tevez found the back of the net in the 50th and 58th minutes to make it a 5-0 game.
Youngster Alvaro Morata put the exclamation point on the rout with goals in the 76th and 88th minutes to complete the drubbing and send Parma to its seventh defeat in the last eight matches.
Juve boss Massimiliano Allegri urged his team to focus solely on the task at hand and not look ahead to Wednesday's Champions League clash against Malmo.
"It's our duty to focus solely on tomorrow's game," Allegri said. "We didn't get out of the blocks after October's international break, so we must take heed of that and burst out of the traps right away tomorrow, enabling us to be ready for Wednesday's match.
"Do we have the potential to get into Europe's top eight? Yes, but now the aim is to get through the group stages. Let's get six points and win the group before speaking about anything else."
Lazio, meanwhile, enters the clash in fifth place in Serie A with 19 points hoping to bounce back from a 2-1 loss to Empoli in league play prior to the international break.
After a scoreless opening half, Lazio fell behind in the 52nd minute thanks to a goal from Federico Barba and Massimo Maccarone doubled the lead for Empoli three minutes later.
Lazio pulled one back in the 66th minute through Filip Dordevic, but it wasn't enough and Empoli held on for all three points.
Despite the setback, Lazio head coach Stefano Pioli implored his club to play without fear against the defending champions on home soil.
"We want to win and the desire to bring home three points needs to be greater than the fear of losing. It will be a useful yardstick which will tell us how far we've come," Pioli said.
"Our clear goal is to get back into Europe and I keep reiterating my belief that this team is capable of doing so. It will be a tough fight and if we want to keep improving our standing each week we also need to make the most of tomorrow's opportunity."
Also in Serie A on Saturday, Atalanta welcomes Roma to the Stadio Atleti Azzurri d'Italia.
Sunday's marquee contest pits AC Milan against Inter Milan in the latest installment of the Milan derby.
Both clubs come into the derby fixture in need of three points as AC Milan is coming off a 2-2 draw with Sampdoria, while Inter is also coming off a stalemate against Hellas Verona.
Also on Sunday, Torino welcomes Sassuolo to the Stadio Olimpico di Torino, while Cesena hosts Sampdoria at the Stadio Dino Manuzzi.
Hellas Verona returns to Serie A play hoping to snap a string of three straight draws with a win over Fiorentina at the Stadio M.A. Bentegodi, while Parma hosts Empoli at the Stadio Ennio Tardini.
Napoli welcomes Cagliari to the Stadio San Paolo and Udinese hosts Chievo at the Stadio Friuli.
Monday's match sees Genoa, winners of three of their last four matches, face Palermo at the Stadio Luigi Ferraris.
https://www.foxnews.com/sports/juve-aims-to-continue-fine-form-against-lazio