Round 20: Juventus vs. Cremonese match preview

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Considering the change Serie A made a couple of years ago when it comes to the ritorno no longer mirroring the andata, this is not a surprise to anybody anymore. But when the second half of the season officially arrives and the first opponent up is a club you played all of two months ago, it’s an interesting little twist on things.

Plus, it’s also the first opponent that Luciano Spalletti faced after becoming Juventus’ manager.

Back on the first day of November, Spalletti’s tenure at Juve began with a 2-1 win away to Cremonese. And guess who’s making their way to Turin for a little bit of Monday night football? It’s Davide Nicola, his wonderful head of hair and his Cremonese squad. They’re not exactly flying high and taking points off big clubs right and left like they were when they were one of the early-season success stories, but it’s a reminder that Juventus have changed for the better in the two-plus months that Spalletti has been in charge.

A lot has happened since that win in Cremona.

Thankfully, it has involved Juve winning 10 of their 14 games in all competitions since Spalletti took charge. He has brought stability to a team that desperately needed it from their manager. He has started to put his stamp on the squad even when you consider that nearly 2 1/2 months isn’t actually a long amount of time — especially when it comes mid-season during a hectic part of the schedule with three games within seven or eight days.

“We’ve improved in many areas since my first match as Juventus coach,” Spalletti said during his pre-match press conference on Sunday, “but there are others where we still need to improve, as they’re an integral part of today’s football.”

Like what, Luciano?

“Quickly winning back a lost ball, besides giving you confidence, allows you to pick up where you left off, and this is an area where we still need to work,” Spalletti continued. “Overall, however, I can say we’re on the right track, but we need to repeat the positive performances in every game, find consistency game after game and within the games themselves. We need to be good, humble, and free from hesitation and fear.”

All of that is good to hear — especially from the man who’s now making the decisions about how he wants this Juventus squad to play. Just how close they are to what Spalletti wants to see from them remains to be seen, but you can see that he is starting to like what he sees from his team on top of the simple fact that they’re winning.

With a win over Cremonese on Monday night, Juventus would pull even on points Spalletti’s former squad, Napoli, in the Serie A table. That’s thanks to Napoli — who still have a game in hand thanks to their participation in the Supercoppa — scoring late at the San Siro and playing to a 2-2 draw with Inter on Sunday night, a result that sent the 2023-24 Italian champions three points clear at the top of the table while also having a game in hand. Depending on what the final in Turin, it could see Juventus jump over Roma in fourth or even Napoli in third, which would certainly be a big development with how tightly contested things have been in Serie A through the first half of the season.

While Juve have found some positive form since their first meeting with Cremonese, the same can’t be said for Nicola’s squad.

Cremonese has recorded just two wins since losing to Juventus on Nov. 1, with those victories coming to start the month of December against Bologna and Lecce. Their struggles over the last two months have led to their expected slide down the Serie A table, as they will travel to Turin in 13th place.

So you combine the fact that more than just one result went Juventus’ way during the weekend fixtures and Cremonese are definitely on the struggle bus right now and haven’t won in over a month, this is another chance for Spalletti and Juventus to take advantage of the entire situation and get even closer to the chaos that has been the top three teams in Serie A this season.

Let’s just hope the third game of 2026 is more like the second one rather than the first against a provincial side.

TEAM NEWS

Francisco Conceição remains a doubt to face Cremonese on Monday after training away from the group for much of the past week.
Lloyd Kelly, however, returned to training with the rest of the group earlier this week and will be available to face Cremonese. It is yet to be seen if it will be Kelly or Teun Koopmeiners starting in defense.
The other injuries are the ones we’ve known about for a good amount of time now: Dusan Vlahovic, Federico Gatti, Daniele Rugani, Arek Milik and Jonas Rouhi.
With Conceição still a doubt, it could very well mean a second straight start for Fabio Miretti in an advanced midfield role. Spalletti described Miretti as “a very useful player for us,” and somebody who “has room for improvement, has a strong drive, and battles in midfield. I’m happy with the midfielders I have in my squad.”
With nearly a week in between the win over Sassuolo and Monday night’s matchup with Cremonese, Spalletti is not expected to make many other changes to the starting lineup.
Just was as the case against Sassuolo, Manuel Locatelli remains one yellow card away from having to serve a one-game suspension.

JUVENTUS PLAYER TO WATCH

I think this is an easy one. Guessing you probably feel the same way.

We don’t hear Spalletti declaring who’s starting often in his pre-match press conferences. But he did it with his starting striker for Monday night’s matchup with Cremonese. And it’s with the same guy who was in celebrating his goal with during Juve’s win five days earlier.

Spalletti made it crystal clear: Jonathan David is starting against Cremonese. He said the words — and those aren’t words we hear Spalletti say about pretty much anybody since becoming Juventus’ manager. Considering the performance that he’s coming off of in the win over Sassuolo, that probably isn’t a huge surprise. But it’s still a sign that Spalletti is sticking with David at a time in which some continuity will hopefully do a whole lot of good as he tries to turn his performances this season around.

Fact is, though, there is no denying that David was pretty dang good against Sassuolo on Tuesday. It maybe a relatively low bar when you think about how he’s struggled for the vast majority of the season, but it’s not nothing. Or, better yet, hopefully it’s not nothing. Because now it’s all about David continuing what he did against Sassuolo rather than slipping back into another one of the brutal performances we’ve seen this season.

And as we know, there’s a whole lot of big fixtures waiting Juventus in less than two weeks from now. You start getting on a nice little role now, then hopefully David can take that growing confidence into a showdown with Napoli and the two final Champions League league phase games. (I know, I know, Spalletti said at his press conference that Juve are truly not looking ahead at all right now, but that doesn’t mean we have to refrain from it.)

Or, as Sam pointed to in his match ratings following the Sassuolo win:

Could this be a turning point for him? Obviously the answer will come in his next matches, but to have the mental fortitude to come up with this performance after the fusillade of criticism he endured over the weekend is a great sign.

There is only one way for David to show that he could very well be starting to turn a corner in the new year — just keep the good times from the Mapei and bring them back with him to Turin and show it at the Allianz.

MATCH INFO

When: Monday, Jan. 12, 2026.

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, 1:45 p.m. Central time, 11:45 a.m. Pacific time.

HOW TO WATCH

Television: Sky Sport Calcio, Sky Sport 251 (Italy).

Online/Streaming: Paramount+, CBS Sports Golazo Network, DAZN USA, Amazon Prime Video (United States); DAZN Canada; fuboTV Canada (Canada); DAZN UK (United Kingdom); DAZN Italia, 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 Bluesky. If you haven’t already, join the community on Black & White & Read All Over, and join in the discussion below.

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