This is no longer a surprise to anyone, considering the changes made to Serie A a few years ago whereby Ritono no longer mirrors Antata. But when the second half of the season officially arrives, it’s an interesting little twist that the first opponent is the club you played for two months ago.
Moreover, this is also the first opponent Luciano Spalletti faces after becoming Juventus coach.
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Back on the first day of November, Spalletti’s tenure at Juventus began with a 2-1 away win against Cremonese. Guess who’s heading to Turin for Monday Night Football? This is Davide Nicola with his beautiful hair and his Cremona team. They’re not flying high like one of those early-season success stories, taking points from big clubs left and right, but it’s a reminder that Juventus have gotten better in Spalletti’s two-plus months in charge.
A lot has happened since Cremona won.
Thankfully, Juve have won 10 of their 14 games in all competitions since Spalletti took charge. He brings stability to a team that desperately needs stability from its head coach. He’s starting to leave his mark on the team, even if you consider that nearly 2.5 months isn’t actually a long time, especially when the middle of the season rolls around and there’s a busy part of the schedule with three games in seven or eight days.
“We have improved in many aspects since my first game as Juventus coach,” Spalletti said at his pre-match press conference on Sunday, “but there are other areas where we still need to improve because they are an integral part of today’s football.”
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Like what, Luciano?
“Winning goals conceded quickly, in addition to giving you confidence, allows you to continue where you left off, which is an area we still need to work on,” Spalletti continued. “Overall, though, I can say that we are on the right track, but we need to repeat positive performances in every game and find consistency in game after game and in the games themselves. We need to perform well, be humble, without hesitation and fear.”
All of which is great to hear – especially from someone who is now deciding how he wants Juventus to play. How close they are to what Spalletti wants to see from them remains to be seen, but you can see that beyond the simple fact that they are winning, he is starting to like what he is seeing from his team.
Juventus will move level with Luciano Spalletti’s former team Napoli at the top of the Serie A table with victory over Cremonese on Monday night. It was thanks to a late goal at the San Siro that Napoli – who have a game remaining due to their participation in the Super Cup – set up a 2-2 draw with Inter Milan on Sunday night, a result that leaves the 2023-24 Italian champions three points clear at the top of the table with a game in hand. Depending on the result of the Turin final, Juventus may surpass Roma to rank fourth, or even surpass Naples to rank third, which is undoubtedly a huge improvement against the fierce competition in Serie A in the first half of the season.
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While Juventus have found some positive form since their first meeting with Cremona, the same cannot be said for Nicola’s side.
Cremones have only recorded two wins since losing to Juventus on November 1, and those wins will come against Bologna and Lecce at the start of December. Their struggles over the past two months have caused them to slip down the Serie A table as they head to Turin in 13th place.
So, given the results of more than one of Juventus’ games over the weekend, while Cremona are certainly in trouble right now and haven’t won in over a month, this is another chance for Spalletti and Juventus to take advantage of the whole situation and move closer to what has been a chaotic season for the top three teams in Serie A.
Let’s just hope Game 3 in 2026 feels more like Game 2 than Game 1 against a provincial team.
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Team news
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Francisco Conceição has not participated in team training for much of the past week but remains a doubt for Monday’s game against Cremones.
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However, Lloyd Kelly resumed training with the rest of the squad earlier this week and will be available against Cremonese. It’s unclear if Kelly or Tern Kupmeiners will start on defense.
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The other injuries are ones we’ve known about for a long time: Dusan Vlahovic, Federico Gatti, Daniel Rugani, Alek Milik and Jonas Ruhi.
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With Conceição still uncertain, this will likely mean Fabio Miretti will make his second consecutive start in a forward midfield role. Spalletti described Miretti as a “very useful player for us” and one who “has room for improvement, has a lot of drive and fights in the midfield. I am happy with the midfielders in my team.”
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With nearly a week between the win over Sassuolo and Monday night’s game against Cremonese, Spalletti is not expected to make many other changes to the starting XI.
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As was the case against Sassuolo, Manuel Locatelli is one yellow card away from a one-game suspension.
Juventus players to watch
I think it’s an easy thing. I figured you might feel the same way.
We rarely hear Spalletti announce who will start in his pre-match press conference. But on Monday night against Cremonese, he did just that with his starting forward. It was the same man who celebrated the goal with him when Juve won five days ago.
Spalletti made it clear: Jonathan David will start against Cremonese. He said these things – words we have barely heard Spalletti say to anyone since becoming Juventus manager. This probably comes as no surprise considering his performance in the win over Sassuolo. But it’s still a sign that Spalletti is sticking with David and some continuity will hopefully do a lot of good as he tries to turn his season around.
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But the fact is, there is no denying that David performed very well against Sassuolo on Tuesday. That’s probably a relatively low bar when you consider he’s struggled for much of the season, but that’s nothing. Or, better yet, hope it’s nothing. Because now it’s all about David continuing his performance against Sassuolo rather than going back to another brutal performance like we’ve seen this season.
From what we know, Juventus have a slew of important games ahead of them in less than two weeks. You start with a nice little role now and then hopefully David can go into the showdown with Napoli and the final two games of the Champions League with growing confidence. (I know, I know, Spalletti said at the press conference that Juventus really aren’t looking forward right now, but that doesn’t mean we have to hold back.)
Or, as Sam pointed out in his match rating after Sassuolo’s win:
Will this be a turning point for him? Obviously the answer will be revealed in his next game, but it’s a good sign that he had the mental fortitude to put in a performance like this after the barrage of criticism over the weekend.
For David, there is only one way to show that he is likely to start turning things around in the new year – to bring the good times at Stadio Mabe back to Turin and show them at the Allianz Arena.
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Competition information
when: Monday, January 12, 2026.
Where: Allianz Stadium, Turin, Italy.
Official kick-off time: 8:45pm local time in Italy and Europe, 7:45pm in the UK, 2:45pm Eastern time, 1:45pm Central time, 11:45am Pacific time.
How to watch
television: Sky Sports Football, Sky Sports 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 Italy, Sky Go Italy (Italy).
Additional live viewing options can be found hereand as always, you can also follow us live and all the silly things we say in blue sky. If you haven’t yet, Join the community Read Black and White and Read Through, and join the discussion below.
