Udinese vs Sassuolo prediction: ITALY: Serie A betting tips on match 2023-12-16 14:00.
Udinese’s stalling start to the season took a turn for the worse in their last Serie A (SA) outing, when they suffered their biggest league loss since February 2022 in a 4-0 defeat against title challengers Inter Milan. The result dragged Gabriele Cioffi’s men deeper into the relegation picture, with only goal difference separating them from 18th place following the completion of the round of fixtures.
One reason the Friulians are fighting to extend their near 30-year stay in Italy’s premier competition is down to a league-high nine draws, which has somewhat masked the failure of winning only once in their opening 15 league matches. It’s an historically poor start to a top flight season, as the last time Udinese had registered just one victory in their opening 15 SA matches was back in the 1961/62 season, a campaign that ultimately ended in relegation.
Hoping to pile on the misery of the Stadio Friuli faithful will be visitors Sassuolo, who could do with collecting the full three points themselves since they only hold an advantage of only three points over their hosts. Victory has been hard to come by for the away side when facing Udinese, underlined by a return of no victories from the last ten H2Hs (D5, L5) and the failure to keep a clean sheet in eight of those matches.
The Black and Greens boast no sort of winning form to boost their confidence either, winning just one of their last nine top flight matches (D3, L5). Manager Alessio Dionisi might still be reeling from the last two games in particular, as his side fell to two defeats despite having taken the lead, resulting in them dropping 11 points after scoring first this SA season – a league-high prior to the weekend.
Players to watch: Udinese’s Lazar Samardžić scored in the 91st minute to help his side to a win away to Sassuolo last season, contributing to seven of his last nine goals coming after half-time. Sassuolo then responded with a 2-2 draw in this fixture later in the campaign, with one of the scorers being Matheus Henrique, who has now scored five of his last six goals on the road.
Hot stat: Udinese are the only SA side this season yet to score in the opening 15 minutes of a match.