Game Time Thread: Juventus vs. Genoa

In a perfect world, Juventus would have a great run of momentum to go along with its four-point lead atop the Serie A standings with a game in hand. By that I mean, as much as the comfortable lead over Roma is, Juventus putting together an overall product on a game-by-game basis that has this team fully living up to its potential would be quite the good development.

We have one, we’re still waiting on the other to arrive in full.

Juventus heads to Genoa with a solid four-point lead over second-place AC Milan and seven-point lead over Roma, which also plays Pescara in the Sunday night game later on today. That could very well mean Roma will be 10 points off the pace when they take the field at the Olimpico in just a matter of four or five hours. But there’s something that needs to happen first before we start saying Roma is officially in a double-digit hole.

Juventus needs to win.

Inside information, isn’t it?

Yeah, I know, you can’t find this kind of stuff anywhere else.

The fact still remains that while Juventus continues to win, the overall quality of its play is still an area of concentration that leaves something to be desired. Maybe it’s because we set the bar high, but that’s due to the fact of what this club has done to get to this point. Sorry, but I’m not sorry about that whatsoever, my friends.

So now we see what Juventus has in store for us during this Sunday afternoon. I hope the Marassi treats us well and that there’s no need for some kind of Emmanuel Giaccherini last-second goal kind of moment like there was back a few years ago. I’d like a Sunday that involves Juventus winning without any kind of stress. That sure sounds like a nice way to put a bow on the weekend, right? Three points with a bow on top. Sounds good to me — and probably you and your best friends, too.

MATCH INFO

Location: Stadio Luigi Ferraris, Genoa, Italy

Kickoff time: 3 p.m. local time in Italy; 2 p.m. in England; 9 a.m. on the East Coast; 6 a.m. on the West Coast

STARTING LINEUPS

Juventus starting XI (3-5-2/3-5-1-1): Gianluigi Buffon; Stephan Lichtsteiner, Leonardo Bonucci, Medhi Benatia; Dani Alves, Sami Khedira, Hernanes, Miralem Pjanic, Alex Sandro; Juan Cuadrado, Mario Mandzukic

Juventus bench: Emil Audero, Neto, Daniele Rugani, Giorgio Chiellini, Patrice Evra, Stefano Sturaro, Claudio Marchisio, Kwadwo Asamoah, Gonzalo Higuain, Moise Kean

Genoa starting XI (3-4-3): Mattia Perin; Armando Izzo, Nicolas Burdisso, Ezequiel Munoz; Darko Lazovic, Tomas Rincon, Isaac Cofie, Diego Laxalt; Luca Rigoni, Giovanni Simeone, Lucas Ocampos

WATCH IT

TV: beIN SPORTS USA (United States); beIN Sports Canada (Canada); BT Sport ESPN (United Kingdom); Sky Calcio 1, PremiumSport 2 HD (Italy)

Online: beIN SPORTS CONNECT U.S.A., fuboTV (United States); beIN SPORTS CONNECT Canada, fuboTV Canada (Canada); BT Sport Live Streaming (United Kingdom); SKY Go Italia (Italy)

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