Udinese vs Fiorentina prediction: ITALY: Serie A betting tips on match 2023-09-23 13:00.
Udinese manager Andrea Sottil isn’t letting his club’s worst start to a Serie A (SA) season since 2010/11 drag down his optimism even after a second-consecutive 0-0 draw as a pre-match favourite, this time away to Cagliari. Sottil has promised that “the goals will come”, pointing to his side’s productivity in front of goal, and he perhaps has a point given that Udinese accrued the seventh-most total shots of all SA clubs after four rounds.
But shots count for nothing in the standings and Udinese face the challenge of needing to get past Fiorentina’s defences here, a side who they’ve scored failed to score more than once against in each of their last seven competitive home H2Hs (W2, D2, L3). Given their scoring woes then, they’d happily accept a repeat of last season’s 1-0 home victory against Fiorentina, which also took place during the first handful of games of the campaign.
Strangely, a repeat result would equate to one of Fiorentina’s best defensive performances of the season, but the ambitious club will be wanting so much more. Head coach Vincenzo Italiano lauded the way in which the club came from behind to defeat Atalanta (3-2) after crumbling against Inter Milan in the previous round (4-0). He later declared that the club had proven themselves in the face of adversity only for La Viola to be on the wrong end of a late equaliser away to Genk in the UEFA Europa Conference League (UECL) during the week (2-2).
Italiano has said that veteran midfielder Giacomo Bonaventura, who delivered an equaliser against Atalanta, will recover from bruised ribs in time for this match after missing their midweek UECL trip to Belgium which could prove crucial. Udinese were the lowest ranked club (based on final positions) that Fiorentina lost away to last SA season, but the ruthlessness they showed against newly promoted Genoa on the opening weekend (W 4-1) holds them in good stead to enact revenge.
Players to watch: Lazar Samardžić remains Udinese’s only goal scorer of this SA season, whilst the aforementioned Bonaventura also scored when these teams met in May 2023.
Hot streak: Udinese have completed 13 consecutive SA games without scoring in both halves.