Cagliari vs Udinese prediction: ITALY: Serie A betting tips on match 2023-09-16 10:30.
Despite scoring their first Serie A (SA) goal since May 2022, Cagliari stumbled to a 2-1 loss at Bologna before the international break which kept them second-bottom in the standings on one solitary point. Manager Claudio Ranieri lamented his side’s mistakes in that match before stating that they “now have to react” as another loss here would make it their worst four-game start since 2014/15, a season which ultimately ended in relegation!
The Sardinians need to improve their home form significantly to avoid the same fate this campaign, especially as a 2-0 defeat to Inter Milan in their home opener made it six losses across their last seven top-flight home games (W1). Although five of those defeats came against traditional heavyweights Juventus, AC Milan, Inter and Lazio, a winless home H2H run vs Udinese since April 2018 (D1, L3) won’t exactly boost confidence here.
That undefeated streak at this venue has helped visiting Udinese to extend their winning tally in this H2H to 27 victories – their joint-most against any opposition in the competition. That bit of history should spur the visitors on as they look for their first SA win in 2023/24 (D2, L1) after a goalless draw against Frosinone last time out made it their fourth home scoring blank in succession for the first time since January 1994.
Coach Andrea Sottil is refusing to press the panic button just yet, stating that they’re “still putting the team together” after this summer’s transfer turnover. That suggests that it's still too early in the campaign to call this a relegation six-pointer but Udinese’s recent six-game away SA form (D1, L5) means that they’ll need to be at their best here to avoid replacing their hosts in the bottom-three.
Players to watch: Zito Luvumbo scored Cagliari’s only SA goal of this campaign and has kept himself busy in their four competitive games so far (G1, A1, YC1). Sandi Lovrić was the scorer of Udinese’s first competitive goal of the campaign and netted for Slovenia during the international break.
Hot stat: Cagliari have received the first yellow card of the match in seven of the last nine H2Hs.