CM: Miralem Pjanic
The Juventus midfield has struggled through 2 consecutive matches with Miralem Pjanic unavailable. In fact, the team failed to register a shot on target in the first half of either of those matches and that issue can be largely attributed to the midfield’s struggles. Throughout his time with Juve, Pjanic has always been the player that drives the attack forward, but they have never looked so lost without him. Juve will be thrilled to welcome him back to the starting lineup and will be hoping he can lead them to a better performance than what we have seen over the last week.
CM: Blaise Matuidi
After a couple of disappointing matches last week Blaise Matuidi should be pretty excited to get another crack at Parma on Saturday. It’s not often that we see Matuidi make a big impact in the attacking half, but in the first match against Parma it was his goal that delivered the win for Juve. That match was one of Matuidi’s best of the year and, much like the rest of the squad he could use a repeat of that performance on Saturday.
CM: Rodrigo Bentancur
Rodrigo Bentancur‘s surprisingly impressive season was brought to a screeching halt this week as he badly struggled to create much of anything against Lazio and Atalanta and featured in midfields that were absolutely dominated by their opposition. It may have just been asking too much too soon from Bentancur who is only getting his first real taste of regular top tier football this season. Between him and Emre Can there didn’t seem to be a candidate to replace Pjanic, but with Pjanic back in the lineup he should serve very well in the role he has occupied all season. Let’s hope he gets himself back on track Saturday.