Game Time Thread: Juventus vs. Palermo

All of three days ago, we saw the Juventus we had been hoping for. They were ruthless, they were dominant and, on top of getting three points in relatively easy fashion, Juve showed they were able to shake the craptastic showing in the Derby d’Italia just a few days earlier and moved on with things.

Now, there’s the next step in the process.

We are just a short time away from the start of Juventus vs. Palermo. It’s the first of three games before the next international break arrives. And it’s the first of three games before the international break arrives that are away from Juventus Stadium. That’s not exactly something that Max Allegri is a fan of — to be honest, who the hell would? — but it’s the kind of situation that Juventus can’t do much of anything about.

Except, you know, win them all and go into the international break feeling pretty good about things. Yes, even better than they did before the first international break of the season considering there’s been more than two games played since then.

Juventus enter the game atop the Serie A table following Napoli’s few days as league leaders. The advantage at time of kickoff is one single point. By the time the day is over, it could still be one. Or it could be two. Or it could be four. Or, again, Juventus could see Napoli leapfrog them into first and then the internet would explode.

So, for the sake of the internet’s safety, let’s here hope that Juventus continue to do what they’ve done against Palermo for the better part of the last five years and keep on winning. Who doesn’t like Juventus winning? (Don’t answer that. I know who doesn’t want Juventus to keep winning.)

I’m not one to predict, but I will take a Juventus win. And maybe one like on Wednesday that is over by halftime. That sure was nice to sit back and not have to stress about things. Oh, how lovely that can be...

STARTING LINEUPS

Juventus XI (3-5-2): Gianluigi Buffon; Andrea Barzagli, Leonardo Bonucci, Daniele Rugani; Dani Alves, Sami Khedira, Mario Lemina, Miralem Pjanic, Alex Sandro; Mario Mandzukic, Gonzalo Higuain

Juventus bench: Neto, Emil Audero, Giorgio Chiellini, Juan Cuadrado, Hernanes, Marko Pjaca, Paulo Dybala, Kwadwo Asamoah, Stephan Lichtsteiner, Stefano Sturaro, Patrice Evra

Palermo XI (3-4-2-1): Josip Posavec; Thiago Cionek, Giancarlo Gonzalez, Edoardo Goldaniga; Andrea Rispoli, Mato Jajalo, Alessandro Gazzi, Haitam Aleesami; Alessandro Diamanti, Ivaylo Chochev; Norbert Balogh

Palermo bench: Leonardo Marson, Andrea Fulignati, Roberto Vitiello, Sinisa Andelkovic, Oscar Hiljemark, Roland Sallai, Ouasim Bouy, Bruno Henrique, Ilija Nestorovski, Giuseppe Pezzella, Simone Lo Faso

WATCH IT

TV: beIN SPORTS USA, RAI International (United States); beIN Sports Canada, RAI International (Canada); Sky Supercalcio HD, Sky Calcio 1 (Italy)

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

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