For the first time, Juventus had a good weekend in Serie A a few days ago. Not just because they won their first league fixture since the first day of February, but also because they won and<\/em> got a little bit of help from an unlikely source when things were looking like they were going to remain status quo after the first weekend of March.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n And now as we work our way to mid-March and the first international break of 2026, Juventus has the chance to get even more help \u2014 and that is because those two teams directly in front of them will be lining up against one another a little less than 24 hours after the Bianconeri take the field in Udine.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Juventus are currently in sixth place entering the weekend. The catch is that they are just a point off Roma in fourth place. And Roma is just ahead of fifth-place Como only because of goal differential. That means with a Juventus win against Udinese on Saturday night a draw between Roma and Como all of 24 hours later and Luciano Spalletti\u2019s squad is back in the driver\u2019s seat with less than 10 league games to go in the 2025-26 season. It\u2019s easy to write it all down on paper and imagine how good things can happen, but Juventus are in another position to win and then get some more help from some \u201cfriends\u201d later on in the weekend.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n That is if they take care of their own business, of course.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Juventus claimed their first Serie A win in five weeks last weekend against Pisa. They did as you hoped they would do against a team that will likely be relegated to Serie B in a couple of months \u2014 although it did take a little more than 45 minutes for Juve to actually get a goal and take the lead. It was the kind of half that you hoped would be the thing that kicks them into gear knowing that they need wins and help to get over the hump and into the top four again.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n That help could arrive this weekend. But to do so against a Udinese team that they\u2019ve already beaten twice this season. You know what they say about trying to beat the same team three times in one season \u2026<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Ah, we won\u2019t all into a bunch of clich\u00e9s here, but those two games were both in Turin. This one, as you can probably figure out, will be at the Friuli \u2014 a place where Udinese has just five wins in 14 games so far this season. But as Roma can tell you, just because you see Udinese is very much mid-table both when playing on their home field and on the whole this season, that doesn\u2019t mean it\u2019s a simple three points to take back home.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n And guess who has just as many wins in Serie A since the start of February?<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Yeah, that\u2019s the team that Juventus will be lining up against on Saturday night.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n That\u2019s more to do with how Juve\u2019s played over these past few weeks rather than Udinese being some kind of force domestically since the last time these two teams met in the opening rounds of the Spalletti era in Turin. They are comfortably mid-table and have been there for a while now. They are, though, coming off a 2-2 draw with Atalanta that was only a precursor to much, much more depressing kind of result as the lone Italian team left remaining in the Champions League.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n (We won\u2019t discuss that any further.)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Udinese has the potential to be a trap game regardless of Juventus having an entire week to rest up, get healthy-ish and prepare for one opponent rather than having the UCL Round of 16 dominating their thoughts. (If only, right?) Juve have dominated this matchup in recent years. They\u2019ve won their last two visits to Udine by a combined score of 5-0. It\u2019s the kind of game that can either be another step in what we all hope is the right direction heading into late March. Or it can be Juventus frustrating the hell out of us yet again since the beginning of February.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n If Juventus can win in Udine and make it back-to-back victories for the first time in nearly two months, then they will hopefully get to enjoy their Sunday and watch Roma and Como square off. Put the pressure on those in front of you \u2014 that\u2019s all we can ask right now. And you do that by winning.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Not just because we could do that literally every single time I sit down to write one of these pieces. But because Spalletti has given the Italian plenty of reasons to speculate when it comes to the setup he might go with thanks to his moves during the second half of last weekend\u2019s win over Pisa.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n So, we ask the question a lot of people are probably asking (and one they couldn\u2019t ask Lucio himself considering he didn\u2019t have a pre-match press conference): Will Kenan Yildiz play as a false 9 or his usual spot on the left wing?<\/p>\n<\/div>\n At this point, it\u2019s probably anybody\u2019s guess. Some predicted lineup say Yildiz will be starting in his usual spot on the left wing. Other predicted lineups say that Yildiz will take the spot of Jonathan David up front and play as a false 9 against Udinese. So, basically, there is no overwhelming feeling about where Spalletti will play Yildiz.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n See where things might be a little confusing?<\/p>\n<\/div>\n But the very fact that nobody knows for sure where Yildiz is playing probably means the door is at least somewhat open to Spalletti playing Yildiz as a false 9 from the start. We remember the last time that happened a few months back and things didn\u2019t exactly go all that well. (Even if Yildiz did score in that game to at least give his team a chance at picking up some points against the reigning Serie A champions.)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n So, for now, we will just have to sit here and speculate a little bit. Because there\u2019s nothing wrong with that. It\u2019s almost required to be a fan these days. A little speculation here, a little speculation there \u2014 it\u2019s never hurt anybody \u2026 most of the time.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n The thing is, what Yildiz was able to do playing in a free-roaming kind of role like he did last weekend is at least an interesting thing for Spalletti to consider. It likely gets him closer to goal even though he could very well find less space to operate against a compact defense like Udinese could very well be. There\u2019s some good in that, but there\u2019s also some not-so-good as well. It\u2019s really what Spalletti has to consider when deciding where to play Yildiz on Saturday night.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n There\u2019s also this to consider: Are Juventus a better team with Yildiz up front as a false 9 or sticking with David in the starting lineup in his usual spot? These days, it\u2019s hard to really know \u2014 and that\u2019s a big part of the problem.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n When: <\/strong>Saturday, March 14, 2026.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Where:<\/strong> Bluenergy Stadium, Udine, Italy.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Official kickoff time:<\/strong> 8:45 p.m. local time in Italy and across Europe, 7:45 p.m. in the United Kingdom, 3:45 p.m. Eastern time, 2:45 p.m. Central time, 12:45 p.m. Pacific time.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n (Please note that the kickoff time might be an hour later than usual like it will be in the United States due to Daylight Saving Time taking place last weekend. The time change will happen in Italy on March 29.)<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n Television:<\/strong> TLN (Canada), Sky Sport Uno, Sky Sport Calcio, Sky Sport 251 (Italy).<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Online\/Streaming:<\/strong> Paramount+<\/strong><\/a>, CBS Sports Golazo Network, Amazon Prime USA, DAZN USA, fuboTV (United States); DAZN Canada; fuboTV Canada (Canada); DAZN UK (United Kingdom); DAZN Italy (Italy).<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Other live viewing options can be found here<\/strong><\/a>, and as always, you can also follow along with us live and all the stupid things we say on Bluesky<\/strong><\/a>. If you haven\u2019t already, join the community<\/strong><\/a> on Black & White & Read All Over, and join in the discussion below.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n