Preview of the Juventus vs. Venezia game: time, TV schedule and how to watch Serie A

For the first time in several weeks, Juventus was able to achieve a victory on Wednesday evening. It wasn’t just a win in a big game – it was simply a win, something they hadn’t recorded in over a month, having recorded four straight draws following the November international break.

It was a refreshing achievement for a number of reasons, but the simple fact of getting a win – and a very big and important one at that – was a change for the better.

But like so many times before, we now shift our focus from Juventus’ performance against Manchester City to the game after a big (European) win – and you can’t help but wonder what comes next.

And while Man City are nowhere near Manchester City’s classic form at the moment, it’s easy to say that the team that’s next on Juventus’ schedule is very different to the team they’re currently up against competed in the Champions League tournament.

Instead of the four-time defending Premier League champions having one of the best managers to ever grace the sport’s sidelines, the next team to roll into the Allianz Stadium on Saturday night during Juve’s four-game homestand has two wins to their name so far this season. Venezia, back in Serie A after a two-year absence, are at the bottom of the table, giving Juventus a potentially soft landing after a very exciting but physically demanding win over Manchester City just three days ago.

In terms of the sheer talent of the opposition, it’s quite a difference going from one of the most valuable squads in the world to what Venezia will show against Juventus.

And it’s safe to say that Juventus are by no means perceived as underdogs, as many thought when they faced Manchester City a few days ago.

Instead, it will essentially be the exact same opponent against a Venezia team that has picked up a total of two points from its first eight away games this season.

For the second year in a row, Eusebio Di Francesco looks set to face a tough relegation battle. Although unlike last season when he was at Frosinone, there wasn’t much of a decline after a red-hot start to the season. Instead, Venezia lost three of its first four games, got its first win, lost another three of its next four, won again and has now lost four of its last five.

So the trend of winning once every five games hasn’t continued, but Venezia did at least get a point in their last game last weekend with a 2-2 draw against fellow relegation club Como.

This is exactly the form you would expect from a relegation fighter. And with two wins in the first 15 games of the 2024/25 season, Venezia is at the bottom of the Serie A table.

After such an emotional and well-played win over Manchester City, the goal for Juventus in their third consecutive game at Allianz is simple: avoid disaster. So many of Juve’s domestic draws this season have come against clubs who really have no business losing points against them. Look no further than what happened a few weeks ago against Lecce, a team that had previously only scored six goals all season. There’s the draw against Cagliari, the draw against Parma, the draw against Empoli. These are all games where Juventus should have won but didn’t.

Despite all the good things Juventus did against Manchester City, losing points against the worst team in Serie A in the first 15 matchdays would be a major disappointment. Juventus is starting to recover, giving its managers the opportunity to do even a little squad rotation, and they have a relatively light schedule until the final game of 2024 when they take on red-hot Fiorentina.

Now is the time to get some momentum into the game and using the win over Manchester City as a starting point seems like a very good attempt to achieve that.

TEAM NEWS

• After being sent off in the second half of last weekend’s draw against Bologna, Juventus coach Thiago Motta will have to serve a one-match suspension on Saturday evening. Therefore, Motta’s top assistant Alexandre Hugeux will patrol the touchline against Venezia.
• The big injury news is that Nico Gonzalez – who has been out since early October with a muscle injury sustained in the comeback win against RB Leipzig – is back in the squad for Venezia’s visit to Turin, according to Motta at his pre-match press conference . Gonzalez has missed 13 games and over 70 days due to his injury on October 2nd.
• Andrea Cambiaso, one of the players hoping to return for this weekend’s visit of Venezia, will not be available despite returning to partial training earlier in the week. With the Coppa Italia round of 16 being played on Tuesday evening, Cambiaso’s sprained ankle is unlikely to be fit for action until Juve’s final game before Christmas.
• With Cambiaso and Gonzalez both back in the squad, Juventus’ injury list is down to five players, two of which are season-ending knee injuries: Cambiaso, Gleison Bremer, Juan Cabal Arek Milik and Jonas Rouhi, according to Motta has recovered from some injury in training.
• Two Juventus players, Manuel Locatelli and Nicolo Fagioli, are just one yellow card away from a ban. Be careful indeed.

JUVENTUS PLAYERS TO WATCH

Saturday could be the 22nd birthday of Juventus’ new favorite Portuguese short king, it’s the player who spends most of his time billeted on the other wing that we’ll be chatting to. Because when you’re playing against the team that’s bottom of the table and has the third-worst defense in Serie A, your attackers are probably thinking good things.

And we all know how a certain young Turkish attacker loves to shatter the souls of opposing defenders whenever humanly possible.

Photo by Fabrizio Carabelli/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images

It was almost a year ago when Di Francesco, then manager of a Frosinone team that was plummeting in the Serie A table, saw Kenan Yildiz score his first goal at senior level by doing what he does best – Using his incredible foot skills to split a ball, quickly get past a few defenders and find the back of the net. Essentially, it was Yildiz’s skill set in a nutshell, and it showed what he’s capable of, even when used in relatively small spaces.

But here’s the thing about Yildiz’s performances of late: Since his impressive brace as a second-half substitute against Inter Milan at the San Siro on October 27, he has one goal and one assist in nine games in all competitions. That’s as many goals as he scored with Turkey during the last international break.

While we all love the skills and tricks and shenanigans of opposing defenders, it’s not like Yildiz has been turning heads in terms of goals and assists over the last six weeks.

The hope, of course, is that it will be something of a comeback for Yildiz and the rest of the Juventus offense against a team that has a goal difference of minus-14 in their first 15 games of the season. And like the team as a whole, the hope is that Yildiz can build on the good performances he put in against Manchester City during the week and continue the good times when he takes on the worst team in the league in mid-December.

We know Di Francesco doesn’t want Yildiz to repeat what he did a year ago against the last team he managed. But that would certainly be a positive development – and for a whole host of reasons, considering how difficult it has been for Juventus to consistently score goals this season.

GAME INFO

When: Saturday, December 14, 2024.

Where: Allianz Stadium, Turin, Italy.

Official kick-off time: 8:45 p.m. in Italy and Central European Time Zones, 7:45 p.m. in the United Kingdom, 2:45 p.m. Eastern Time, 11:45 a.m. Pacific Time.

HOW TO WATCH

TV: Fox Deportes (United States); TLN (Canada); Sky Sport Uno, Sky Sport 251, Sky Sport Calcio, Sky Sport 4K (Italy).

Online/Streaming: Paramount+CBS Sports Golazo Network, Foxsports.com, FOX Sports App (USA); fuboTV Canada (Canada); OneFootball.com (UK); DAZN Italia, Sky Go Italia (Italy).

More live viewing options are available Hereand as always you can also follow us live and all the stupid things we say on Twitter. If you haven’t already: Join the community to Black & White & Read All Over and join the discussion below.