Juventus projected lineup vs SPAL: Juve reshuffles depleted midfield

Juventus coach Massimiliano Allegri during the Serie A football match n.12 MILAN – JUVENTUS on 11/11/2018 at the Stadio Giuseppe Meazza in Milan, Italy. (Photo by Matteo Bottanelli/NurPhoto via Getty Images)

Life keeps getting more difficult for the Juventus midfield.

It all started when Juve let Claudio Marchisio leave on the last day of the transfer window, meaning they only had 5 central midfielders on the roster. Since then Sami Khedira has suffered multiple injuries, Emre Can has required surgery on his thyroid, and Miralem Pjanic and Blaise Matuidi have been required to play way too much over the last couple of months. This lack of rest has caused an injury for Pjanic and exhaustion for Matuidi.

Juve has overcome their midfield issues for most of this season, winning 14 of the 16 matches they have played in all competitions and only losing once in those 16 matches. That first loss came   two matches ago in an embarrassing collapse against Manchester United, but Juve pounced back well in their following match. They won 2-0 against AC Milan in a battle of Serie A’s 2 most successful teams and completely neutralized their former teammate, Gonzalo Higuain.

You could say this season hasn’t gone quite as smoothly for SPAL. They won 3 out of 4 matches to open the year, but have gone just 1-1-6 since then. That run includes a home loss to Frosinone who is really just a Serie B team that snuck into Serie A by less than honorable means.

Juve couldn’t ask for a better time to regroup. The match against SPAL will be a perfect opportunity to play around with a 4-4-2 and give the midfield a bit of a break. They’ll be without Pjanic, Can, and Bernardeschi for this one, but if they play a decent game they shouldn’t get to much of a fight out of SPAL on their home turf.