clock menu more-arrow no yes mobile

Filed under:

Game Time Thread: Juventus vs. Palermo

Marco Luzzani/Getty Images

The opportunity to go plus-9 is sitting right in front of Juventus with a black and white bow right on the very top of it. Yep, it's out there ready for the taking. It's as real as real gets. Inter beat Napoli, therefore Juventus can drive another deadly nail into the Partenopei's coffin.

To say this is another golden opportunity, well, it's just a given at this point.

With six games remaining, having anything close to a double-digit lead essentially means things are a done deal. Having that near-double-digit lead with five games to go? Well, shoot, son. Things would be looking even greener and have us starting to make plans as to what we're wearing to the victory parade through the streets of Turin.

That's what's on the line today against Palermo at Juventus Stadium. Three points more points, which would extend Juve's unbeaten run to 23 games, and a fifth straight Scudetto is basically a wrap. (Yes, even more than it already is entering today's game.) Juventus are good, Palermo are a mess. So it must be almost as close to a done deal as the 2015-16 title race is, right? Well, maybe. Juve could jump out to a 2-0 lead before halftime, which would be wonderful. Or they can grind out another 1-0 victory and that would be that.

Either way, things are looking awfully good for Juventus right now.

Like, really, really good.

It's time to finish things. Like in Mortal Kombat, you know? It's as simple as two easy words when Sub-Zero is about to knock the snot out of Johnny Cage for one final time. You know what it is. Say it with me now...1...2...3..."Finish him."

From 12 points off the lead to back toward the end of 2015 to now potentially being nine points ahead of the closest competition. Man, that's just crazy to think about. Extremely crazy, man.

Lineups

Juventus XI (3-5-2): Gianluigi Buffon; Andrea Barzagli, Leonardo Bonucci, Daniele Rugani; Juan Cuadrado, Sami Khedira, Claudio Marchisio, Paul Pogba, Patrice Evra; Paulo Dybala, Mario Mandzukic

Juventus bench: Rubinho, Emil Audero, Stephan Lichtsteiner, Alex Sandro, Simone Padoin, Mario Lemina, Stefano Sturaro, Hernanes, Kwadwo Asamoah, Alvaro Morata

Palermo XI (3-5-2): Stefano Sorrentino; Edoardo Goldaniga, Giancarlo Gonzalez, Sinisa Andelkovic; Andrea Rispoli, Oscar Hiljemark, Mato Jajalo, Ivaylo Chochev, Achraf Lazaar; Franco Vazquez, Aleksander Trajkovski

Palermo bench: Josip Posavec, Fabrizio Alastra, Roberto Vitiello, Alberto Gilardino, Gaston Brugman, Norbert Balogh, Aljaz Struna, Bryan Cristante, Enzo Maresca, Antonino La Gumina, Michel Morganella, Giuseppe Pezzella

How to watch

TV: beIN Sports (United States, Canada); BT Sport 2 (United Kingdom); Sky Calcio 2 (Italy)

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