Udinese-Spezia is a Serie A Week 24 match played on Sunday at 18:00: odds, predictions, TV and streaming.
There are eleven points separating Udinese and Spezia in the standings. Yet neither team is going through a positive moment. And both of them, although fighting for different goals, have to make sure that they push away a crisis that has been going on for several days now.
The Friulians can no longer find their way back to the right path after having amazed everyone in the first two months of the championship. Last Saturday, against Inter at the San Siro, came the second away defeat in a row. Lovric’s momentary equalizer at the end of the first half, in response to the Nerazzurri’s advantage signed by Lukaku on a penalty kick, had deluded the Bianconeri fans: on the contrary, in the second half Andrea Sottil’s men pulled the reins in the boat, cashing in on Mkhitaryan and Lautaro Martinez’s goals and suffering another knockout in the space of two weeks. Victory has been missing since 15 January: the narrow 0-1 win in Genoa against Sampdoria remains Udinese’s only joy since October. Worse, in the last 15 days, has only been Cremonese, the tail end of the table. In any case, the points haul accumulated in the first few weeks allows Beto and his team-mates to remain in a decent standings zone: they are tenth, just two points behind seventh place.
La Spezia rely on Semplici
Spezia, on the other hand, are back in relegation danger: the Ligurians, defeated four times in the last month, are barely two points ahead of third-last Verona and have been in danger of being overtaken for a week now.
Simple
A few days ago, meanwhile, the Bianconeri club made their new coach official after Luca Gotti’s dismissal: he is Leonardo Semplici, ready to make his official debut on the bench (against Juventus there was the ferryman Lorieri). The former Spal and Cagliari coach will have to try to reverse the trend and bring to safety a Spezia side that, after a discrete first part of the season, has made life complicated. One of the main causes of this vertical and sudden drop is the poor offensive prolificacy: the Ligurian formation has not scored in five of the last seven matches, a negative record it shares with Sampdoria.
Udinese-Spezia: latest line-up news
Sottil has the men counted in defence: Ebosse, injured in the San Siro match against Inter, is out, but Bijol is also disqualified. The Bianconeri coach will dust off Masina, back available after a long injury, and will re-position Perez. In midfield Pereyra will find space together with Lovric and Walace, while in attack the Frenchman Thauvin could start again, ready to alternate with Success.
On the other side, Semplici could initially continue with the three-man defence, which is likely to consist of Amian, Ampadu and Nikolaou. There are many absences that the new coach will have to reckon with: from Bastoni to Holm, via Zurkowski and Moutinho. Good news instead for Dragowski: the former viola goalkeeper has recovered and will return to defend the posts of the Ligurian team. In attack Verde and Nzola.
The Prediction
Udinese haven’t won at home since September, in a fast that has few precedents. Sottil’s men may have less motivation than Spezia, who are just a step away from the relegation zone, but they will almost certainly do everything they can to redeem themselves and put behind them a negative moment that has lasted too long. Curiously, the Ligurians have won the only two previous matches played in the top flight at the Dacia Arena, a statistic that makes this match between two struggling teams even more uncertain. The total number of goals, given the recent trend of both teams, could be less than four and it cannot be excluded that the first half ends in a draw.
- UDINESE (3-5-2): Silvestri; Perez, Becao, Masina; Ehizibue, Pereyra, Walace, Lovric, Udogie; Thauvin, Beto.
- SPEZIA (3-5-2): Dragowski; Amian, Ampadu, Nikolaou; Gyasi, Ekdal, Bourabia, Agudelo, Reca; Verde, Nzola.
POSSIBLE RESULT: 1-1
