Game Time Thread: Juventus vs. Roma

As per usual, this post is being written before any of Serie A's Sunday games are getting underway. Napoli hasn't played as I write this, neither have Inter or Fiorentina or anybody else in the top five of the league standings entering the weekend. We will know the Napoli-Sampdoria score come the time this post goes live to the world wide web.

But only one game in Giornata No. 21 has two of those teams playing against one another.

Juventus. Roma. Second place. Fifth place. Top five showdown at Juventus Stadium. Oh what fun there very well could be. And oh what fun all of us who will be rooting for the home team hope there is, too.

MATCHDAY. Make sure you're all watching and cheering #ForzaJuve from 20.45 CET. Mario's orders. #JuveRoma pic.twitter.com/BfgWsgdkC7

— JuventusFC (@juventusfcen) January 24, 2016

YOU HEARD THE MAN, DAMMIT. Don't piss off Mario.

(Although, a pissed off Mario probably is something I'd like to see out on the field. Can you imagine all the players he would run through because he's red-lining and ready to seek and destroy? That would be awesome.)

But the fact still remains, regardless of what mood Mario Mandzukic is in, is that Juventus and Roma enter Serie A's version of Sunday night football with a whole lot at stake. Juventus wants to continue their upward trajectory and put even more pressure on Napoli. Roma want to turn this newfound sense of hope and optimism with the (re)arrival of manager Luciano Spalletti into actual results on the field.

Which one will it be?

Will Juventus have a shot to get into first place with their 11th straight Serie A win?

This is the time of year where the games get even more important than before. This thing is a marathon, not a sprint, but as we head around the bend and pass the middle of the backstretch, it's undeniably clear that Juventus will only improve their Scudetto case with another three points in the bag come the final whistle sounding.

And you know what? A little payback from the visit to the Stadio Olimpico at the end of August won't hurt, either. We all know that this version of Juventus is mcuh, much better than the one that lost to Roma earlier this season.

Lineups

Juventus XI (3-5-2): Gianluigi Buffon; Andrea Barzagli, Leonardo Bonucci, Giorgio Chiellini; Stephan Lichtsteiner, Sami Khedira, Claudio Marchisio, Paul Pogba, Patrice Evra; Mario Mandzukic, Paulo Dybala

Juventus bench: Neto, Emil Audero, Martin Caceres, Daniele Rugani, Alex Sandro, Simone Padoin, Stefano Sturaro, Hernanes, Kwadwo Asamoah, Juan Cuadrado, Alvaro Morata, Simone Zaza

Roma XI (3-4-1-2?): Wojciech Szczesny; Kostas Manolas, Daniele De Rossi, Antonio Rudiger; Alessandro Florenzi, Miralem Pjanic, William Vainqueur, Lucas Digne; Radja Nainggolan; Mohamed Salah, Edin Dzeko

Roma bench: Morgan De Sanctis, Bogdan Lobont, Vasilis Torosidis, Leandro Castan, Norbert Gyomber, Seydou Keita, Emerson, Iago Falque, Francesco Totti, Umar Sadiq

How to watch

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

Online: beIN Sports CONNECT (United States); beIN Sports CONNECT Canada (Canada); Sky Go Italia (Italy)

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.