Juventus will be aiming to put last season’s troubles behind them as they begin a fresh campaign with a Sunday night trip to Udinese. The Turin club will be targeting a positive start and given their recent record in this fixture, should have the upper hand.
The task for Udinese will be to improve on last season’s campaign where they finished 12th on the standings. Despite starting with a 4-2 defeat to AC Milan on the opening weekend, Andrea Sottil’s men put together a six-match winning run in the early stages of the campaign before eventually running out of steam.
One of the more disappointing aspects of Udinese’s campaign last season was the way it ended as they lost their final four Serie A matches. They were also beaten in their final two home matches, failing to score in both fixtures.
While anticipating some improvements this season, there have been a few changes at Udinese with the likes of Rodrigo Becao, Ilija Nesterovski and Destiny Udogie all leaving. They had a solid preseason and have already claimed a competitive win this term, easing to a 4-1 victory over lower league side Cantanzaro in the Coppa Italia.
It was a thoroughly turbulent campaign for Juventus last season as they were wracked with all kinds of problems. They were already enduring erratic results before being hit with a 10-point deduction for financial irregularities, which ultimately saw them finish seventh on the standings.
Juventus opted not to play in Europe this season and manager Massimiliano Allegri will hope that having no distraction will boost their domestic campaign. There has been little transfer activity so far with Timothy Weah the only major acquisition while the Old Lady also had an unbeaten preseason having faced the likes of AC Milan and Real Madrid.
In the midst of all their troubles last season, Juventus still managed to put together a few great results and could have finished at least fourth without the points deduction. They also ended the season on a positive note with four wins in six matches, including a 1-0 victory at Dacia Arena in their final fixture.
How the bookies view it
Juventus have the upper hand among the bookies and are priced at 9/10 by 10bet to claim the win. Udinese are considered outsiders at home at 7/2 with Unibet while a draw is set at odds of 5/2 with William Hill.
Head to head
Juventus have a 41-9 advantage with nine draws from 59 previous matches with Udinese. The Turin club have also won the last three meetings and did the double last season with both fixtures ending in a 1-0 victory.
Players to watch
Striker Dusan Vlahovic remains at the club despite links with a move elsewhere and could be backed to find the net on Sunday at 2/1 with William Hill. Following his injury hit campaign, a fit Federico Chiesa will be a major asset for the Turin club this season and the forward is priced at 11/4 with BetVictor to get on the score sheet on Sunday.
One of the things that caught the eye last season was Juventus’ defensive displays with Bremer impressing at the back. The Brazilian centre-back should start on Sunday and can lead the Turin club to a clean sheet at 11/8 with BoyleSports.
Anything else catch the eye?
There have been under 2.5 goals in the last two meetings between Udinese and Juventus and a similar outcome is priced at 8/11 with Unibet. Given the Turin club’s defensive prowess, BTTS NO can also be considered at 20/21 with BetVictor.
Juventus have won to nil in the last three meetings with Udinese and a similar outcome is priced at 2/1 with bet365.
This Serie A match between Udinese and Juventus will be played on Aug 20, 2023 and kick off at 19:45. Check below for our tipsters best Udinese vs Juventus prediction. You may also visit our dedicated betting previews section for the most up to date previews.
