Game Time Thread: Juventus vs. Palermo

We've seen Juventus rebound from a tough start in recent weeks. The result has been a consistent rise up the table from the bottom, to the teens, to the top half and now just a few points away from one of the five European spots. That's what we know for sure. What we don't know is how far Juventus will go before, say, the end of the calendar year.

There are opportunities to get points out there no matter who difficult Juventus' final stretch of 2015 is.

The first one comes today against a Palermo side that is currently sitting just a few small points outside of the relegation zone. They haven't necessarily been poor defensively, but the glaring weakness of this Palermo side is that they can't score goals on a consistent basis. Only one club, last-placed Hellas Verona (10), have found of the back of the net fewer times than Palermo (13) this season.

So I think it's safe to say that this is one of Juve's best chance to get points before back-to-back games against Lazio and Fiorentina — as well as the Champions League group stage final against Sevilla thrown in there, too —  starting next week.

The thing that has helped Juventus climb up the table lately is that they've picked up points against teams they should beat. That didn't happen in the first two months of the season. They either left points hanging out there or didn't get anything at all to show for it. Getting all three points against Palermo will certainly be something to considered of the former, not the latter. So if Juventus wants to go out and win a fourth straight Serie A game and leapfrog both Sassuolo and Milan and go into fifth place, I'd certainly be okay with that. As should most of you.

.@OfficialAllegri: We've stepped up both on a physical and technical level of late. It's clear that the team is on the up. #PalermoJuve

— JuventusFC (@juventusfcen) November 28, 2015

Continue to show us that's the case, Max. Just a suggestion.

Lineups

Juventus XI (3-5-2): Buffon; Barzagli, Bonucci, Chiellini; Cuadrado, Sturaro, Marchisio, Pogba, Evra; Mandzukic, Dybala

Juventus bench: Neto, Rubinho, Lichtsteiner, Rugani, Alex Sandro, Padoin, Vitale, Zaza, Morata

Palermo XI (4-3-3): Sorrentino; Struna, Goldaniga, Gonzalez, Lazaar; Hiljemark, Jajalo, Chochev; Brugman; Vazquez, Gilardino

Palermo bench: Colombi, Alastra, El Kaoutari, Rispoli, Daprelà, Andelkovic, Maresca, Quaison, Trajkovski

How to watch

TV: beIN Sports, beIN Sports en Español (United States); beIN Sports Canada, beIN Sports en Español (Canada); Sky Sport 1 HD Italia, Sky Calcio 1, Sky Supercalcio HD (Italy); BT Sport Europe (United Kingdom)

Online: beIN Sports CONNECT (United States); beIN Sports CONNECT (Canada); SKY Go Italia (Italy); BT Sport Live Streaming (United Kingdom)

Other live viewing options can be found here, and as always, you can also follow along with us live on Twitter. If you haven't already, join the community on Black & White & Read All Over, and join in the discussion below.