Juventus v Sampdoria: Serie A – live!

5 min Ronaldo slices miles wide after a good knockback from Matuidi. It wouldn’t have counted as Matuidi was offside when he ran onto Dybala’s lofted pass.

4 min: Chance for Sampdoria! Augello swings in a nice cross from the left towards Ramirez, whose downward header from 10 yards is too close to Szczesny. That was a chance.

2 min Ronaldo storms into the area and is about to shoot when Tonelli appears on his blind side to make a vital tackle.

1 min Peep peep! Sampdoria, in their classic blue strip, kick off from right to left. Juve are in black and white halves.

The coaches Maurizio Sarri and Claudio Ranieri, combined age 129, smile warmly as they greet each other. I think Sarri was smiling, anyway; he has a mask on so I can’t be sure. But his body language suggested he was very happy to see our Claudio.

“How good has Ramsey been this season?” says Andrew Hurley, and that’s not a rhetorical question. “I haven’t followed closely but he seems to have been in and out of the team.”

I haven’t seen much of Juventus this season either. It’s probably fair to say the move hasn’t quite worked as he’d hoped, apart from the payslips. I think he’s only started 11 Serie A games.

Juventus (4-3-3) Szczesny; Danilo, Bonucci, de Ligt, Alex Sandro; Rabiot, Pjanic, Matuidi; Cuadrado, Dybala, Ronaldo.
Substitutes: Ramsey, Higuain, Rugani, Demiral, Bentancur, Pinsoglio, Bernardeschi, Olivieri, Muratore, Zanimacchia, Buffon.

Sampdoria (3-5-2) Audero; Chabot, Yoshida, Tonelli; Depaoli, Linetty, Jankto, Thorsby, Augello; Ramirez, Quagliarella.
Substitutes: Bonazzoli, Askildsen, La Gumina, Maroni, Seculin, Gabbiadini, Ferrari, Leris, Murru, Falcone, Rocha.

Referee Francesco Fourneau.

Let’s try that one again. Juventus missed the chance to win their ninth consecutive league title when they lost at Udinese, but they have three more chances to get the victory they need. The first is at home to Claudio Ranieri’s Sampdoria, who had been in terrific form until they lost the Genoa derby on Wednesday.

Indeed, Sampdoria’s form is much better than that of Juventus, who have won only one of their last five matches. They are staggering over the line, walking in an S-shape like a Wetherspoons escapee. But as long as they get home, they won’t mind how they get there.

Kick off 8.45pm.