The start of the Serie A season has not been an easy or pleasant one for Juventus, who have earned just a single win in the league and have struggled to get healthy, with new injuries cropping up seemingly every week. Now they’ve got a midweek league match to deal with, though at least it’s one against a newly-promoted Frosinone side that they should be able to beat fairly handily.
Juventus vs. Frosinone 2015 live stream: Game time, TV schedule and how to watch online
Juventus are even more battered than they were a week ago, but a kind run of scheduling leaves them likely to win a second straight match.
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That said, “should” and “will” are two different things with Juventus this season. They lost to Udinese in the season opener -- a team that has lost every match and looked awful since then -- and Roma before battling to a draw with surprising upstarts Chievo Verona. They did impress in a big Champions League win over Manchester City, but winning in the Champions League doesn’t help them in Serie A unless they can turn that into momentum.
A 2-0 win over Genoa was a good start, with Juventus becoming the first team to score more than once against Genoa so far in this young season, but now they need to start piling up wins. Frosinone should be a good way to do that, but with Juventus so beaten up and going on short rest, there’s no guarantees, especially with a big match against Napoli on the road this weekend. They can’t get caught looking ahead, or Frosinone might just have themselves a very good day. Probably not, but anything is possible in the insanity of Serie A.
Key player -- Paul Pogba (Juventus)
Pogba’s the easy choice for Juventus even when everything is happy and wonderful, but right now it just isn’t. Juventus have won one league match this season. One. That’s not OK. That’s not even close to OK. So with poor results stacked on top of a laundry list of injuries -- hey, guess what’s a big part of why Juventus have one win? -- that makes a strong performance from Pogba all the more important. If he plays well, he can single-handedly ruin Frosinone’s day. If Pogba plays poorly, well, Juventus will probably still win, but it wouldn’t be nearly so convincing a performance that way.
Upset potential -- Low to none
Look, Juventus have struggled this season. They’ve played poorly for the most part. But Frosinone are, well, bad. Really bad. Remember how bad Cesena looked in their one-year-and-done Serie A campaign last season? That team could wipe the floor with this Frosinone team. They’re that bad. Of the promoted teams, at least Bologna are interesting and Carpi are trying to be competitive on limited resources, but Frosinone just look like they’re along for the ride so far this season. They’ve scored one goal this season, are the only Serie A team without so much as a draw, and they’re just boring. Unless something goes disastrously wrong for Juventus in this match -- always possible! -- Frosinone really don’t have a chance to do anything in this one.
Juventus injuries and suspensions
Out: Rubinho (suspended), Claudio Marchisio (thigh), Sami Khedira (hamstring), Mario Mandzukic (thigh), Alvaro Morata (calf), Kwadwo Asamoah (knee) In doubt: none
Frosinone injuries and suspensions
Out: Robert Gucher (muscular), Samuele Longo (ankle) In doubt: none
Juventus are badly battered right now, both in midfield and now up front as well. They’re going to be starting a pairing of Simone Zaza and Paulo Dybala against Frosinone not in the name of rotation, but because neither Alvaro Morata or Mario Mandzukic are healthy enough to go 90 minutes. That’s not great news, especially not for a team already struggling with injury and facing a potentially very important match this weekend.
Match Date/Time: Wednesday, 2:45 p.m. ET, 8:45 p.m. local
Venue: Juventus Stadium, Turin, Italy
TV: Premium Calcio 1, Sky Calcio 2 (Italy), BT Sport Extra (U.K.)
Online: beIN Sports Connect (U.S.), Sky Go Italia (Italy)
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