How Juventus could line up against Cremonese without Yildiz or Kelly

Luciano Spalletti is due to take charge of his first match as Juventus head coach on Saturday, but will have his work cut out for him as both Kenan Yildiz and Lloyd Kelly have been ruled out. Here is how the Old Lady could line up in their absence. 

Juventus will travel to Cremona to take on Davide Nicola’s side in Serie A at 19.45 GMT on Saturday evening. This will be Spalletti’s first match in charge since replacing Igor Tudor as Bianconeri head coach on Thursday evening. 

Spalletti, thus far, has had just one training session to work with his players following his appointment on Thursday evening, and is therefore not expected to make any major changes to Juve’s recent shape or system. 

During his first press conference on Friday, Spalletti discussed the fact that he will look to deploy a back four in the future, but that he is likely to stick with a back three on Saturday, even if he only has three senior centre-backs available with Kelly and Bremer out injured. 

That means that Pierre Kalulu, Federico Gatti and Daniele Rugani are practically guaranteed to start, with Next Gen defenders Pedro Felipe and Filippo Scaglia called in to make up the numbers. 

There will be an enforced change further up the pitch, though, as Yildiz has also been left at home. 

Francisco Conceicao could come back into the starting line-up to play alongside Lois Openda in an attacking trident that will likely be led by Dusan Vlahovic at centre-forward. 

Khephren Thuram is also back in the squad after being left out against Udinese on Wednesday. It remains to be seen whether he will be thrown straight back into the starting line-up, with Teun Koopmeiners, Manuel Locatelli and Weston McKennie also available for selection.

(3-4-2-1): Di Gregorio; Kalulu, Gatti, Rugani; McKennie, Koopmeiners, Thuram/Locatelli, Cambiaso; Conceicao, Openda; Vlahovic.