Torino vs Udinese prediction: ITALY: Serie A betting tips on match 2023-12-22 14:00.
One of the most marginal offside decisions of recent times preserved victory for Torino against Empoli in their last Serie A (SA) outing, in a game that remarkably saw three goals chalked off for offside! The Granata have lost just once across their last seven outings (W4, D2), and that impressive run of form has them sitting just four points adrift of the top-six ahead of the round.
That sequence includes three consecutive home victories, so Ivan Jurić’s men will be looking to secure four successive wins on their own turf in SA for the first time since 2019. Keeping it tight has been key to that run, as no team in Italian top-flight home games have witnessed fewer goals than Torino’s 13 this term.
Stalemate specialists Udinese are the next visitors to Turin, but they travel bruised after a damaging 2-2 draw with Sassuolo last time out. The Bianconeri were two goals up before the 75th minute, with coach Gabriel Cioffi left to lament “two individual errors” that saw his side concede a pair of late penalties that condemned them to their tenth draw after 16 SA rounds (W1, L5).
Rather unsurprisingly, their measly total of 13 points is their joint-lowest at this stage in the three-points-per-win era, and appears to be putting their near three-decade long stint in the top-flight in jeopardy. Their sole victory of the SA campaign did come on the road, but as they’ve lost successive road trips since and conceded seven goals in the process, confidence may be limited among players and fans alike.
Players to watch: All four of Duván Zapata’s goals for Torino have arrived at home, with the Colombian striker opening the scoring inside the first 25 minutes in their last two such outings. Meanwhile, none of Lorenzo Lucca’s four SA strikes for Udinese have arrived earlier than in the 30th minute.
Hot stat: Torino are one of only two SA teams yet to concede within the opening 15 minutes, whilst Udinese are the only ones yet to score inside this period.