Round 20: Juventus vs. Cremonese match preview

abdulmanannet77@gmail.comJanuary 11, 2026

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Round 20: Juventus vs. Cremonese match preview

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Considering the change Serie A made a few years ago regarding the ritorno no longer reflecting the andata, this is no longer a surprise to anyone. But when the second half of the season officially rolls around and the first opponent is a club you played two months ago, it’s an interesting little twist of things.

Moreover, this is also the first opponent that Luciano Spalletti faces after becoming manager of Juventus.

On the first day of November, Spalletti’s tenure at Juve began with a 2-1 win over Cremonese. And guess who’s heading to Turin for some Monday night football? It’s about Davide Nicola, his magnificent hair and his Cremone team. They’re not exactly flying high and taking points from big clubs left and right 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 Spalletti has been in charge.

A lot has happened since that victory in Cremona.

Fortunately, this has allowed Juve to win 10 of their 14 matches in all competitions since Spalletti took charge. He brought stability to a team that desperately needed it from their manager. He’s started to put his stamp on the team even considering that nearly 2 1/2 months isn’t exactly a long time – especially when it’s mid-season during a busy part of the schedule with three games in seven or eight days.

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

Like what, Luciano?

“Recovering a loose ball quickly, in addition to giving you confidence, allows you to pick up where you left off, and that’s an area we still need to work on,” Spalletti continued. “Overall, however, I can say that we are on the right track, but we need to repeat the positive performances in every game, find consistency game after game and in the games themselves. We need to be good, humble and free from hesitation and fear.”

This is all good to hear, especially from the man who is now making the decisions on how he wants this Juventus team to play. It remains to be seen how close they are to what Spalletti wants to see from them, but you can see he’s starting to like what he sees from his team beyond just them winning.

With a win over Cremonese on Monday night, Juventus would level the points with Spalletti’s former team Napoli in the Serie A standings. That was thanks to Napoli – who still have a game in hand thanks to their participation in the Supercoppa – who scored late at the San Siro and played out a 2-2 draw with Inter on Sunday evening, a result which put the 2023-24 Italian champions three points clear at the top of the table all also having a match in hand. Depending on the final in Turin, Juventus could leapfrog Roma into fourth or even Napoli into third, which would certainly be a significant development considering how hotly contested things have been in Serie A during the first half of the season.

If Juve have returned to positive form since their first meeting with Cremonese, the same cannot be said of Nicola’s team.

Cremonese have recorded just two wins since losing to Juventus on November 1, with those victories coming in December against Bologna and Lecce. Their struggles over the past two months have led to their expected fall in the Serie A table, as they will travel to Turin in 13th place.

So if you combine the fact that more than one result was achieved by Juventus in the weekend’s matches and that Cremonese are definitely on the struggle bus at the moment and haven’t won in over a month, it’s another chance for Spalletti and Juventus to take advantage of the whole situation and move even closer to the chaos that has been the top three teams in Serie A this season.

Let’s just hope that the third game of 2026 will be more like the second than the first against a provincial team.

TEAM NEWS

Francisco Conceição remains doubtful to face Cremonese on Monday after training away from the squad for much of the last week.
Lloyd Kelly, however, returned to training with the rest of the group at the start of the week and will be available to face Cremonese. It remains to be seen whether it will be Kelly or Teun Koopmeiners who will start in defense.
The other injuries are those we have known about for a long time: Dusan Vlahovic, Federico Gatti, Daniele Rugani, Arek Milik and Jonas Rouhi.
With Conceição still uncertain, this could very well mean a second consecutive start for Fabio Miretti in an advanced midfield role. Spalletti described Miretti as “a very useful player for us” and someone who “has room for improvement, has strong motivation and fights in midfield. I am happy with the midfielders I have in my team.”
With almost a week between the win against Sassuolo and Monday night’s match against Cremonese, Spalletti is not expected to make many other changes to the starting lineup.
Just like against Sassuolo, Manuel Locatelli remains one yellow card away from having to serve a one-match suspension.

JUVENTUS PLAYER TO WATCH

I think it’s an easy question. I guess you probably feel the same way.

You don’t often hear Spalletti declare who’s starting during his pre-match press conferences. But he did it with his starting striker for Monday night’s match against Cremonese. And it’s with the same guy who celebrated his goal with in Juve’s victory five days earlier.

Spalletti said it very clearly: Jonathan David starts against Cremonese. He said those words – and they’re not words we’ve heard Spalletti say about almost anyone since he became Juventus manager. Considering the performance he put in in the win against Sassuolo, this probably isn’t a huge surprise. But it’s still a sign that Spalletti is sticking with David in an era where some continuity will hopefully do him a lot of good as he tries to improve his performance this season.

The fact is, however, that David was pretty good against Sassuolo on Tuesday. That may be a relatively low bar when you think about how he struggled for the vast majority of the season, but it’s not nothing. Or, better yet, I hope it’s not nothing. Because now it’s about David continuing what he did against Sassuolo rather than falling back into another of the brutal performances we’ve seen this season.

And as we know, there are plenty of big matches awaiting Juventus in less than two weeks. You’re starting to play a nice little role now and then hopefully David can take that growing confidence into a showdown with Napoli and the final two games of the Champions League league stage. (I know, I know, Spalletti said in his press conference that Juve really isn’t looking ahead at the moment, but that doesn’t mean we should refrain from it.)

Or, as Sam pointed out in his match notes after the Sassuolo win:

Could this be a turning point for him? Obviously the answer will come in his next few matches, but having the mental strength to put in this performance after the barrage of criticism he endured this weekend is a good sign.

There is only one way for David to show that he could very well start 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 them to the Allianz.

MATCH INFORMATION

When: Monday January 12, 2026.

Or: Allianz Stadium, Turin, Italy.

Official kick-off time: 8:45 p.m. local time in Italy and across Europe, 7:45 p.m. in the UK, 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/broadcast: Paramount+CBS Sports Golazo Network, DAZN USA, Amazon Prime Video (US); DAZN Canada; fuboTV Canada (Canada); DAZN UK (United Kingdom); DAZN Italy, Sky Go Italia (Italy).

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