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It has been a positive start to life in Turin for Thiago Motta but Juventus need to regroup after a frustrating draw with Empoli at the weekend as they now welcome Peter Bosz and PSV Eindhoven to the J Stadium to kick off the new season of the UEFA Champions League.
KICK-OFF DATE/TIME: Tuesday 17th September, 2024 - UK – 5:45pm / US ET – 12:45pm / US PT – 9:45am
HOW TO WATCH ON TV: UK – TNT Sports / US – Not televised
HOW TO WATCH ONLINE: UK – TNT Sports / US – Paramount+, ViX
JUVENTUS PREVIEW: BIANCONERI BOUNCE
Former Bologna boss Thiago Motta was given the job of rebuilding and rejuvenated an ageing Juventus squad with a younger and more dynamic side playing in a modern and more progressive way. The Old Lady did start the season very well but have endured frustrating results either side of the September international break.
Juventus went into the break on the back of a goalless draw with Roma at the J Stadium before then being held to the same scoreline by Empoli at the weekend. Signs of improvement and progression were there, though, as they began the season with back-to-back 3-0 hammerings against Como and then Hellas Verona.
PSV EINDHOVEN PREVIEW: ANOTHER STRONG START
Last season, PSV Eindhoven enjoyed what was quite a ridiculous first few months of the season in the Eredivisie and Peter Bosz managed to lead them to the Dutch title with just one defeat all season in the league. This season has also started brightly as they seek to leave a mark on the UEFA Champions League, too, after reaching the Round of 16 before losing to eventual runners’ up Borussia Dortmund last season.
PSV began the 2024/25 campaign with a 5-1 thrashing of RKC Waalwijk and ever since then they have been utterly rampant in the Netherlands. They sit at the top-of-the-table with five victories from five matches, scoring 20 goals and conceding just three in the process.
JUVENTUS TEAM NEWS: CHANGES AFOOT
Juventus rested a few players against Empoli at the weekend. For example, Michele Di Gregorio, Danilo, Juan Cabal and Timothy Weah would all be expected to come back into the lineup this weekend.
Summer signing Francisco Conceicao, who joined from Porto last month, remains unavailable whilst Khephren Thuram, who also joined this summer, returned to the first-team squad and came off the bench against Empoli.
PREDICTED XI (4-2-3-1): Di Gregorio; Danilo, Gatti, Bremer, Cambiaso; Locatelli, Douglas Luiz; Gonzalez, Koopmeiners, Weah; Vlahovic
UNAVAILABLE: Conceicao (Injured)
QUESTIONABLE: Milik (Injured)
PSV EINDHOVEN TEAM NEWS: CARRYING ON THE MOMENTUM
In what is quite a heavily American influenced PSV squad, the Dutch side will likely have to work without one of their key Americans as former Barcelona full-back Sergino Dest remains a doubt for this one alongside Armando Obispo at the back.
Mexico international Hirving Lozano has not been a fulcrum of PSV’s recent success so the winger remaining injured for this weekend should not be a massive deal as they head down across to Italy.
PREDICTED XI (4-3-3): Benitez; Ledezma, Flamingo, Boscagli, Dams; Til, Schouten, Veerman; Bakayoko, De Jong, Tillman
UNAVAILABLE: Hirving Lozano (Injured)
QUESTIONABLE: Obispo (Injured), Dest (Injured)
KEY STATS
JUVENTUS VS PSV EINDHOVEN PREDICTION
Juventus will be expected to dominate the play in most games. Possession-based play is the modus operandi for Thiago Motta but with a bit of intensity and incision in the final third. However, patient and ineffective build-up will be punished by a PSV side that are in a really good state at the moment. This has the potential to be a surprisingly very entertaining encounter in which both teams scoring seems a good bet.
JUVENTUS VS PSV EINDHOVEN TIP: BOTH TEAMS TO SCORE