Game Time Thread: Juventus vs. Sassuolo

Frustrating as it certainly was, it took Juventus until the early days of December to win back-to-back games in Serie A. There were a lot of draws, a lot of missed chances and a whole lot of wondering just what Juve is doing under their new manager despite his wonderful beard.

What did Juventus do after winning back-to-back games for the first time this season? You probably guessed it — a draw, which came against Atalanta at Allianz Stadium.

Well, Juventus is playing at Allianz Stadium again tonight. And like that mid-December night against the boys from Bergamo, Juventus’ opponent this evening, Sassuolo, is very much being compared to Atalanta for the simple fact of their punching above their weight in the top group of the table despite their limited resources and small payroll.

Juventus playing Sassuolo has always been a tricky fixture. It’s proven to be a game where Juve’s season has hit rock bottom. It’s been one, like the meeting in July last season, the goals have flowed freely. But it may not be more important this season as Juventus tries to chip away at the lead that AC Milan currently has at the top of the table.

Juventus need three points just in the same fashion as they did at the San Siro midweek. Andrea Pirlo truly emphasized the notion that the win over Milan won’t mean much of anything if they drop points against Sassuolo and potentially see the deficit in the league go back to 10 points despite the game in hand.

How do you prevent all that from happening?

Well, you win back-to-back-to-back games for the first time all season.

Sounds simple enough. But as we know with this Juventus team, nothing comes simple.

MATCH INFO

When: Sunday, Jan. 10, 2021

Where: Allianz Stadium, Turin, Italy

Official kickoff time: 8:45 p.m. local time in Italy and across Europe; 7:45 p.m. in the United Kingdom; 2:45 p.m. Eastern Time; 11:45 a.m. Pacific Time

STARTING LINEUPS

Juventus starting XI (3-5-2/4-4-2): Szczesny; Demiral, Bonucci, Danilo; Chiesa, McKennie, Arthur, Bentancur, Frabotta; Dybala, Ronaldo

Juventus bench: Buffon, Pinsoglio, Chiellini, Di Pardo, Dragusin, Ramsey, Rabiot, Bernardeschi, Portanova, Fagioli, Kulusevski, Morata

Sassuolo starting XI (4-2-3-1): Consigli; Muldur, Chiriches, Ferrari, Kyriakopoulos; Obiang, Locatelli; Defrel, Djuricic, Traore; Caputo

Sassuolo bench: Pegolo, Marlon, Magnanelli, Ayhan, Rogerio, Boga, Lopez, Peluso, Raspadori, Toljan, Oddei, Schiappacasse

HOW TO WATCH

Television: RAI Italia North America (United States); RAI Italia North America, TLN (Canada); Premier Sports 2 (United Kingdom); Sky Sport Uno, Sky Sport Serie A, Sky Sport 251 (Italy)

Online/mobile: ESPN+ (United States); DAZN (Canada); Premier Player HD (United Kingdom); Sky GO Italia, NOW TV (Italy)

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