Udinese vs Cagliari prediction: ITALY: Serie A betting tips on match 2024-02-17 14:00.
Scoring against Juventus for the first time since 2021 was enough for Udinese to earn just a third Serie A victory of the season. Gabriele Cioffi’s men put three points between themselves and the drop zone as a result, and now go in search of back-to-back victories for the first time since March as they come up against relegation-batling rivals Cagliari.
This will be far from a straightforward outing for the hosts however, as they’ve won a joint-league low one home match this term (D7, L4) and each of their 11 Serie A outings against sides starting this round tenth or lower ended level! Something the Udinese faithful can fall back on is their strong recent H2H record on this ground, winning three of the last four Serie A home meetings (L1).
Cagliari are in desperate need of defying recent history in this fixture after a 3-1 defeat to Lazio made it four consecutive defeats in Serie A. The Islanders have conceded an average of three goals per game across that run and left them two points adrift of safety pre-round. Only Frosinone (18) have conceded more than Cagliari’s 14 goals in the division since the turn of the year, while Claudio Ranieri’s men remain one of just three sides yet to register an away league victory this term (D3, L9).
Problems persist at both ends of the pitch for the Sardinian side, as they’ve scored a joint-league low seven goals on their Serie A travels, while they’ve suffered seven defeats from their last eight road trips, with three of the last four witnessing them concede at least three times.
Players to watch: Udinese’s top league scorer Lorenzo Lucca (G6) has netted each of his last five goals in or after the 30th minute, and will be eager to break his 2024 duck. Cagliari’s Gianluca Gaetano found the net in his second match after his move from Napoli last time out, with each of his three Serie A goals arriving after the break.
Hot stat: Cagliari have conceded 20 times before half-time in Serie A this season, the joint-second worst such record.