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Rome. Italian league leaders Juventus must negotiate a tough midweek trip to third-placed Udinese if the Old Lady of Turin is to go into the holiday period top, fending off their opponents and AC Milan.

The Milanese, currently two points adrift of top spot, could go top in their own right on Tuesday, a day before Juve’s game, if they can win at midtable Cagliari.

This final pre-holiday round of league action should in fact have been the first of the season — but the games fell victim to a strike which delayed the start of the campaign back in August.

Juve have yet to lose in the league this season but they will have to work hard to pull off maximum points at the Stadio Friuli against an Udinese side known as little zebras — owing to their Juve-like black and white stripes.

After finishing fourth last season to earn a shot at the Champions League qualifier — they ultimately went out to Arsenal — Udinese had to regroup having lost three stars.

Chilean winger Alexis Sanchez joined Barcelona, Gokhan Inler, who switched to Napoli, and Christian Zapata, who joined Spain’s Villareal.

But they have still managed to keep in touch with last season’s form, winning nine and losing only two of their 15 games to date.

They also have the meanest defense with just nine goals conceded.

Sunday brought a 2-2 draw with fellow highflyers Lazio — a match where coach Francesco Guidolin sprung a surprise in leaving hotshot Antonio Di Natale on the bench to begin with.

That means he is fresh to face Juve.

On the debit side for Udinese, defensive linchpin Mehdi Benatia is suspended.

Juve coach Antonio Conte will hope that could be a factor which tips the balance.

Massimiliano Allegri’s AC Milan meanwhile head to Sardinia to visit a Cagliari side which boasts just one win in the last ten games.

Chairman Massimo Cellino, who has already fired two coaches this season, may soon start thinking of sharpening the axe once again if Davide Ballardini cannot manage a revival.

Elsewhere, Lazio will look to stay in touch with a win over Chievo while 2010 champions Inter Milan, still in the race in fifth under Claudio Ranieri despite their woeful start to the season, will seek a fourth straight success as they take on Lecce.

Napoli, sixth and 12 points off the pace after their weekend home loss to Roma, will look to get back on track against a Genoa side with whom they are level on points, while Roma themselves will attempt to leapfrog Napoli with a win over fifth bottom Bologna.

Napoli’s Argentine forward Ezequiel Lavezzi will be out for around four weeks after injury his right thigh against Roma.

“I have a tear, the recovery time will be four weeks,” he wrote on Twitter.

Palermo meanwhile must regroup after chairman Maurizio Zamparini, nicknamed “coach-eater,” carried out the 39th sacking of his career Monday in dumping Devis Mangia following the weekend loss to fellow islanders Catania — the ninth managerial casualty of the season so far.

Palermo are in midtable but have struggled to impress after the close-season losses of Javier Pastore and Salvatore Sirigu to Paris SG and Antonio Nocerino to AC Milan.

Agence France-Presse