Americans Abroad: Weston McKennie and Christian Pulisic face key Serie A tests as Chris Richards’ Crystal Palace look to rebound vs Chelsea

Can McKennie keep it up? As Juventus approach one of their biggest games of the season, they'll surely hope so.

Fifth-place Juventus will play host to third-place Napoli on Sunday in a match that will go a long way towards determining both sides' Serie A title hopes. Napoli enter the match six points behind league leaders Inter. Juventus, meanwhile, are 10 back. A loss for either would be backbreaking. A win, meanwhile, would keep hope alive and add a new layer to what is currently a very crowded top-four race.

The good news? Juve have McKennie, who is in the best form of his career. After scoring against Benfica midweek, McKennie now has three goals in his last three Champions League games and five goals in the last two months. It's that form that has kept Juventus kicking in two competitions. After a recent loss to Cagliari, though, the Old Lady are in danger of falling out of the upper echelon of the Serie A table. They can prevent that from happening with a win on Sunday.

McKennie isn't the only American playing in that crowded place atop Serie A. Pulisic and Milan are right there, too, and their title hopes will depend on a marquee match of their own this weekend.

Milan are set to face Roma, who, entering the weekend, are fourth in the league on 42 points. Milan, meanwhile, are second on 46, three points behind crosstown rivals Inter at the very top. Inter are very likely to get three points from their match against relegation-threatened Pisa, which means there's plenty of pressure on Milan to match as they visit a fellow Serie A elite.

Like Juventus, Milan depend heavily on their American star and have largely been just fine despite a dip in form for Pulisic. That "dip" is relative, of course. He's scored just one goal in his last six starts, a downswing for him, but he still leads Milan with eight goals and two assists so far this season. He's yet to score in 2026. This weekend would be a good time for a Milan team that needs to raise its level to keep its Scudetto hopes alive.

Staying in Serie A for one more game, Atalanta's clash with Parma doesn't feature Americans leading those clubs; it features Americans fighting to break into the starting XI. Could Yunus Musah or Benjamin Cremaschi see the field this weekend, or will both have to continue their fight for roles from the bench?

It's an intriguing match. Musah, a 2022 World Cup veteran, is still just 23, but faces a fight for his 2026 World Cup spot. Cremaschi, too, is on the outside looking in it seems, although his recent U.S. Soccer Young Male Player of the Year award was a deserved boost to his reputation. Both are talented. Both have potential. Both need games and minutes to showcase that going forward.

Those games haven't come, though. Cremaschi has played just 27 minutes this season, eight of which came this past weekend against Genoa. Musah, meanwhile, is at 435, most of which have come with second-half runouts off the bench. American fans will be eager to see either, or both, play this weekend as they look to really start building in 2026.

There are no easy games in the Premier League, but there are still a few that players surely circle on their schedule. A visit from Chelsea, despite their struggles in recent years, remains one of them, particularly for a fellow London club like Crystal Palace.

Richards remains a key figure for Palace, perhaps even more key than ever before. With the club still reeling from Marc Guehi's exit and the upcoming departure of manager Oliver Glasner, Palace are in something of a fight to reestablish who and what they are. Winless in the league since Dec. 7, this weekend's clash with Chelsea would be a very good time to reset the tone against a Blues team that has surely had its ups and downs this season, too.

Can Palace stop their mini-freefall? It would sure ease a lot of doubts if they did sooner rather than later, as the club approaches a hard reset later this year.