Monza vs Udinese prediction: ITALY: Serie A betting tips on match 2022-08-25 16:30.
Life in Serie A (SA) has been harsh on new boys Monza, who were blown away 4-0 by Napoli last time out. With zero points picked up from the two opening rounds, pressure is growing on their coach Giovanni Stroppa and there’s little doubt that the ambitious club president and CEO duo of Berlusconi-Galliani would’ve hoped for a better start after investing in new players and targeting tenth place as an end of season goal.
One of those new players, former Inter defender Andrea Ranocchia, suffered a serious injury on his SA debut for Monza on Sunday and together with the absence of left-back Carlos Augusto, the situation in Monza’s backline is far from ideal. That’s also evident from the eight goals they’ve conceded across their three competitive outings this term – from just 16 shots on target – so they’ll need to find a way of plugging the gap if they are to get something here.
A ten-man Udinese weren’t able to replicate their impressive 4-0 victory over Salernitana from the final round of the last campaign, settling for a goalless draw against the Salerno side last time out. Despite this being their first point of the campaign, after being defeated by last season’s Italian Champions AC Milan in matchday one, coach Andrea Sottil wasn’t happy with refereeing decisions but praised his players for handling the situation well.
Prior to the Milan defeat, the visitors had put together a five-game unbeaten run on the road at the backend of last season, including two wins over last season’s SA newcomers. In fact, Udinese seem to thrive when playing the role of a SA bully as they have won five of their last six away league matches against a promoted team (L1), so they should arrive in Lombardy confident about continuing this trend.
Players to watch: After seeing a goal disallowed last time out, Andrea Petagna still seeks his first strike for Monza although he has scored twice against Udinese previously, each time after the break. Meanwhile, the visiting Gerard Deulofeu has scored seven of his last eight competitive goals in the first half, including his only goal this term.
Hot stat: Udinese conceded a league-high ten away goals in the opening 15 minutes of the second half in 2021/22, also conceding once in the same period in their only trip this season.