Game Time Thread: Juventus vs. Spezia

Away fixtures have not been simple for Juventus this season. Not by a long shot. They’ve been tricky, they’ve been frustrating, and they’ve been something that has seen Juve nearly lose as many as they’ve won and leave a lot to be desired in the process.

So, as you can imagine, some sort of repeat of the shortcomings that have been attached to Juventus’ away form is not to be desired going into this latest game that is being played somewhere other than the Allianz Stadium.

Juve faces a struggling Spezia side tonight, the kind of matchup that you would hope that Max Allegri’s squad can get past without a whole lot of stress being heaped upon supporters knowing that the home side is all of two points out of the relegation zone and just fired their manager (and have yet to officially replace him). They are very much in a relegation battle and enter tonight’s game with one win in their last five — the kind of form that you would hope is going to be extended once the final whistle sounds in a few hours.

The catch in all of this is that Juventus are coming off a European effort in which another disappointing knockout round display took place, with plenty of frustrating moments added into one of the few defensive mistakes being made coming back to bite Allegri’s team in a major way. How Juve will bounce back is anybody’s guess seeing as Thursday night’s 1-1 draw with Nantes is the latest hit in what has proven to be a 2023 that just one hit after another with a completely unknown ending in sight.

So maybe this is the game where Juventus get back on the horse and takes care of business away from home. Or, it just looks like more of the same from this club when not playing in Turin. At the very least we’re used to it by now, I guess.

MATCH INFO

When: Sunday, Feb. 19, 2023.

Where: Stadio Alberto Picco, Spezia, 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 (3-5-2): Perin; Danilo, Rugani, Alex Sandro; Cuadrado, Locatelli, Paredes, Rabiot, Kostic; Di Vlahovic, Kean.

Juventus bench: Szczęsny, Pinsoglio, De Sciglio, Gatti, Bonucci, Fagioli, Barrenechea, Di María, Soulé, Iling-Junior.

Spezia starting XI (3-5-2): Dragowski; Ampadu, Amian, Nikolaou; Gyasi, Bourabia, Ekdal, Agudelo, Reca; Verde, Shomurodov.

HOW TO WATCH

Television: BT Sport 3 (United Kingdom).

Online/Streaming: Paramount+ (United States); DAZN (Canada); BTSport.com, BT Sport App (United Kingdom); DAZN, 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.