Udinese continued their inconsistent streak with a new loss while Cagliari continued their uprising with a massive result against Torino. What will the two teams produce on Friday?
Go back a little over a month to when Udinese were playing some of the best football in Serie A. Their season began with four wins and a draw and as soon as they met a tougher challenge, all their weaknesses shone through.
The team has been alternating wins and defeats in the last five fixtures, losing to Roma, Inter, and Milan, but defeating Lecce and Salernitana. The positive factor ahead of this match is Stadio Friuli. Udinese have been ruthless at their home ground, winning five of their six matches to date.
Cagliari are going through their own renaissance as they came back from a deficit to beat Torino 3-2 and extend their unbeaten streak to four in a row. Rossoblu were in the danger zone until a couple of weeks ago and getting one more win will boost them all the way up to the upper half of the table.
Davide Nicola found a way to turn a relegation-worthy around and Cagliari scored seven goals in their last three Serie A games, beating Torino and Parma, and drawing at Juventus.
How the bookies view it: Value on both ends
Udinese are the betting favourite ahead of this match but Cagliari’s chances should not be underestimated. Betano gave Udinese 23/20 to win, while the visitors sit at 49/20. Alternatively, you can opt for the draw at 47/20.
Recent head-to-head: Closer than one would think
For the most part, the H2Hs between Udinese and Cagliari have almost always been extremely close and competitive. The Little Zebras have the upper hand with five wins in the last ten meetings while Cagliari won twice.
Players to watch: Italian-French link-up
Look out for Florian Thauvin who should return from his hip injury and take his place next to Lorenzo Lucca. The duo was behind six of Atalanta’s goals this season and either of them could score the winning goal.
Probable line-ups
Udinese: Okoye, Kabasele, Bijol, Toure, Ehizibue, Lovric, Karlstrom, Zarraga, Zemura, Thauvin, Lucca
Cagliari: Scuffet, Zappa, Mina, Luperto, Zortea, Makoumbou, Adopo, Augello, Viola, Luvumbo, Piccoli
Anything else catch the eye?
We can hardly call either side particularly prolific, although both teams produced some big scorelines in recent weeks. On average, both teams have had 2.6 goals per match in Serie A. Nevertheless, the majority of their H2Hs in recent years failed to produce over 2.5 goals and we expect this to be a very tight contest once again.
Cagliari are yet to prove themselves on the road while Udinese picked a series of convincing wins at home. We back the home side to win but would like to recommend a Draw No Bet selection to anyone who isn’t prepared to risk it.
Alternatively, consider over 9.5 corners as an additional bet, as Cagliari are the team with the highest average corners per game in the league – 12.63. Udinese average 10.50 corners per home game and the visitors average 12 per away game.
This Serie A match between Udinese and Cagliari will be played on Oct 25, 2024 and kick off at 17:30. Check below for our tipsters best Udinese vs Cagliari prediction. You may also visit our dedicated betting previews section for the most up to date previews.
