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Milan - Juventus midfielder Claudio Marchisio has brushed off suggestions of a crisis, insisting the champions' resolve will remain intact when they visit in-form Napoli looking for their first win of the year on Sunday.
Juventus saw their lead over title challengers Roma reduced to a point on Tuesday when Mauro Icardi struck late for Inter to level Carlos Tevez's fifth-minute opener in Turin.
Roma will go top if they beat Lazio in the city derby on Sunday afternoon, heaping further pressure on a Juventus side that lost the Italian Super Cup final to Napoli in Doha in their last game of the year.
But having secured their qualification for the last 16 of the Champions League, Marchisio has put the situation into perspective.
"Maybe we could have handled certain games better, but speculation about physical or psychological problems is totally wide of the mark," Marchisio told Sky Sport on Thursday.
"There are always peaks and troughs in a season but when you come up against teams like Napoli you can't fail to get fired up for the game."
Napoli welcome Massimiliano Allegri's men looking to emulate Genoa, the only team so far this season to take all three points from Juventus following their 1-0 home win at the Luigi Ferraris stadium in October.
But while Marchisio admits meeting Napoli at their formidable San Paolo stadium will be "difficult", he added: "They are a great side but we want to upset predictions and make sure we come away with the win."
