Serie A’s bottom-two teams, Venezia and Udinese, clash on Friday at Stadio Pierluigi Penzo with the visitors hoping to kickstart their revival in Paolo Zanetti’s first game in charge.
Match News and Current Form
Venezia were beaten 1-0 at Como last weekend for a ninth defeat from their ten league matches this season (W1), losing each of their last three without scoring. It’s only the third time that a club has lost at least nine of their first ten games in a Serie A campaign, and ominously, both previous teams to suffer that fate also lost their 11th match and went on to be relegated by finishing last. The Winged Lions’ immediate hopes of revival face another historical challenge here, as they’re winless in their last seven Serie A games held on a Friday (D2, L5), losing four of their last five such matches.
Udinese were 4-0 down by half-time in an eventual 5-2 thrashing against Roma last weekend, with a seventh defeat in eight league games (D1) leading to Kosta Runjaić’s sacking. Zanetti now takes charge of a team mid-season for the first time in his career, and will have to lift the mood of a side that has posted a negative club record five points from their opening ten games of a Serie A campaign in the three-points-per-win era. Udinese’s only win of the campaign did come on the road against another newly-promoted side Monza, while three wins from their last five Serie A games held on a Friday (L2) offers more hope of a turnaround starting here.
Head-to-Head History
Udinese have won five of the last seven Serie A H2Hs (L2), scoring 17 goals in the process, but have emerged victorious from just one of their six top-flight visits to Venezia (D1, L4).
Hot Stats and Streaks
Venezia are the only Serie A side yet to lead at half-time this season (HT: D5, L5).
Only three of Venezia’s last 13 Serie A home games saw both teams score.
Udinese have scored five of their 11 league goals this season between the 41st and 50th minute.
Udinese have scored 2+ goals in seven of their last ten Serie A away matches.
Key Players to Watch and Missing Players
Only Donyell Malen starts the round with more shots on target this Serie A season than Akor Adams (13), who has seen all four of his Venezia goals this term come at home, the last two of which were match openers. Hassane Kamara assisted Udinese’s last league goal and has remarkably seen three of his four Serie A strikes come between the 45th minute and half-time!
Neither side look to have any fresh availability issues.
For all the latest team news, please check the Flashscore match centre.
Betting Analysis
These two are among the lowest scorers of the division this term, so backing under 2.5 goals could be the way to go here.
Author: Sridhar Bhamidi
