Game Time Thread: Juventus vs. Udinese

Juventus got its first game of 2023 out of the way a few days ago. Now, Juventus is going to play in front of its hometown crowd for the first time in the new year.

And while we hope the simple end result is the same as it was Wednesday night, I feel safe in saying that more than just a few of us hope that the overall product Juve puts out there tonight is a little bit better than what we saw in Cremona.

So, here we are. Juventus is back at home and, for one of the few times so far this season, the Allianz Stadium is sold out and wanting to have plenty of reasons to cheer. Tonight, the only thing standing in Juventus’ way from getting an eighth straight win is Udinese, which maybe somewhat ironically sits in eighth place in the Serie A table entering tonight’s showdown between teams that have black and white as their main colors.

Juventus will almost certainly have to be better than it was on Wednesday night if another win is tacked onto the end of the winning streak simply because the opposition is better.

But, in the grand scheme of things, you would also like to see Juve play better than they did a few days ago because:

1. It’s the second game out of the World Cup break and that should mean something.
2. And, maybe more importantly, there’s a very, very big game waiting for them in six days’ time against a team that has been the best in Serie A from basically the first weekend of the season.

So here’s to hoping that Juventus can look a little better in its second game of 2023 compared to its first. Maybe there’s some sweet, sweet home cookin’ to be had. That sure would be nice, wouldn’t it?

MATCH INFO

When: Saturday, Jan. 7, 2023.

Where: Allianz Stadium, Turin, Italy.

Official kickoff time: 6 p.m. local time in Italy and around Europe, 5 p.m. in the United Kingdom, 12 p.m. Eastern time, 9 a.m. Pacific time.

STARTING LINEUPS

Juventus starting XI (3-5-1-1): Szczesny; Danilo, Rugani, Alex Sandro; McKennie, Miretti, Locatelli, Rabiot, Kostic; Di Maria; Kean.

Juventus bench: Pinsoglio, Perin, Gatti, Barbieri, Riccio, Paredes, Fagioli, Barrenechea, Chiesa, Milik, Soulé, Iling-Junior.

Udinese starting XI (3-5-2): Silvestri; Becao, Bijol, Perez; Pereyra, Lovric, Walace, Makengo, Udogie; Beto, Success.

HOW TO WATCH

Television: CBS Sports Network (United States); BT Sport 1 (United Kingdom).

Online/Streaming: Paramount+ (United States); fuboTV Canada (Canada); BT Sport app, BTSport.com (United Kingdom); DAZN, Sky Go Italia (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.