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It’s another Monday night game for the Serie A leaders and with that, we’ve prepared an Udinese vs Inter Milan prediction, team news, lineups and fixtures preview thanks to our Italian football expert Daniele Fisichella.
Prediction: Udinese 0-2 Inter Milan
The Neroazzuri only need 11 more points in the next eight games to win their 20th Scudetto, whereas the Friulani will probably have to fight till the very end to avoid being relegated for the first time in 30 years.
Italy, Serie A, Monday, March 8th, 19:45 (UK)
After two disappointing performances Inter went back to winning ways on Easter Monday as they beat Empoli 2-0 at San Siro.
Simone Inzaghi’s men took the lead early, thanks to Federico Dimarco’s sixth goal of the season, and missed a couple of decent chances before putting the result beyond any doubt with Alexis Sanchez.
Inter have now won 25 of their first 30 Serie A games for only the second time in their history (previously they achieved the same record in 2006/2007 with Roberto Mancini on the bench), and become the second team, after Juventus in 2013/2014, to always score for 30 consecutive matches in Italy’s top flight.
The visitors are inches away from getting their hands on their 20th Italian title which they could potentially achieve with a success in the derby, on Monday 22 April, if they win the next two fixtures.
Theoretically, Lautaro & co could still beat Antonio Conte’s Juventus record points in Serie A (102, in 2013/2014), but to do so, they’d have to come out victorious in every single match from now till 26 May.
But there are also other records Inter can beat this season, starting from the clean sheets one.
On Monday reserve goalkeeper Emil Audero (who played from the start due to Yann Sommer’s slight ankle injury suffered during the international break) helped the Neroazzurri, keeping their 19th clean sheet of the campaign.
Inter have now equalled the club record from 1988/1989 and are just two short of the Serie A all-time record of 21 (achieved by Juventus in 2010/2011 and Lazio last season).
Inter have only conceded six times away from home, and if they avoid letting in more than two goals in the next four games (at the ‘Stadio Friuli’, in the derby, and against Frosinone and Verona) they’ll be crowned the best ever defence on the road in the history of Serie A.
Udinese have won just one home game this season and have only scored twice (against Salernitana and Cagliari) in the last four encounters.
Based on the home form, Stefano Cioffi’s men would be in the bottom three with a minus-six goal difference.
It has been a very strange season for the hosts, who missed Gerard Deulofeu’s quality.
They often seemed unable to manage games whilst constantly on the verge of crisis: Udinese took the lead 13 times this season but have only won on four occasions.
Apart from being the ‘kings of draws’ (they shared the spoils 16 times this season, a record in Europe’s top five leagues), the Friulani have, weirdly, only beaten top sides so far (AC Milan, Juventus, Bologna and Lazio).
Can they trouble Italy’s best team on the road (36 points, with two games less, for Inter against AC Milan’s 34)?
The Milanese have only dropped points twice away from home this season and won, without conceding, nine games, including against sides fighting to avoid the drop like Cagliari, Empoli, Salernitana and Lecce.
It’s unlikely Udinese will square up to the leaders and press them high as Empoli did in the last match at San Siro.
The Tuscans made it hard for Inter by keeping the ball well, whereas the Friulani, who overall have better technical players, will probably try to keep the intensity low and frustrate Inter with a low block.
Udinese prefer a much more direct approach: they’re bottom for number of passes and first for attempted dribbles.
Eight Udinese games at the ‘Stadio Friuli’ this season have produced less than three goals, including the last four, whereas the visitors have scored in the first half in 11 of their 14 away games during this campaign.
The hosts have only kept three clean sheets at home and have conceded before the break in five of their last six domestic matches.
Udinese vs Inter Milan Prediction odds via bet365 as at 07:30, April 2nd, 2024. Odds may now differ.
Lorenzo Lucca (seven Serie A goals this season) was booked against Sassuolo and will miss this game on Monday. One between Success or Brenner should play upfront, supported by Thauvin, who, with two goals and three assists, has contributed to 45% of Udinese goals in 2024.
Cioffi will use his trusted 3-5-2 formation with Pereyra on the right hand side of the midfield and Lovric closer to the strikers. Pajero might replace Samardzic who last Monday started the game for the first time in the last four weeks.
Sommer will return in goal for Inter, and Inzaghi is likely to confirm the rest of the team that defeated Empoli. Dumfries had a good impact when he came off the bench (the Dutchman provided the assist for Sanchez’s 2-0, his sixth for the season), but Darmian should continue to start as right wing-back.
With no midweek European football, it is unlikely the manager will make many rotations, at least until the team secures the title.
Arnautovic, De Vrij and Cuadrado are all sidelined due to injuries.
Udinese possible starting lineup: Okoye; Perez, Bijol, Giannetti; Pereyra, Samardzic, Walace, Lovric, Kamara; Thauvin; Success
Inter Milan possible starting lineup: Sommer; Pavard, Acerbi, Bastoni; Darmian, Barella, Calhanoglu, Mkhitaryan, Dimarco; Lautaro, Thuram
Our in-house predictive model, BETSiE, has had a go at predicting the Serie A standings ahead of the Udinese vs Inter Milan, currently 14th vs 1st, fixture by utilising the underlying data from the 2023/24 season up until this point.
For more league-specific BETSiE content including standings, probabilities and predictions, visit her page here – it’s worth it.
Position | Club | Games | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Inter | 38 | 29.1 | 5.8 | 3.1 | 88.1 | 23.9 | 64.2 | 93.2 |
2 | Juventus | 38 | 23.4 | 9.2 | 5.3 | 58.6 | 26.2 | 32.4 | 79.6 |
3 | AC Milan | 38 | 21.8 | 7.0 | 9.2 | 70.0 | 47.8 | 22.2 | 72.5 |
4 | Atalanta | 38 | 21.0 | 6.1 | 10.8 | 71.7 | 39.9 | 31.8 | 69.2 |
5 | Bologna | 38 | 17.2 | 12.5 | 8.4 | 53.1 | 37.3 | 15.8 | 63.9 |
6 | AS Roma | 38 | 17.6 | 8.5 | 11.9 | 62.0 | 43.6 | 18.5 | 61.2 |
7 | Lazio | 38 | 17.7 | 7.5 | 12.8 | 47.7 | 38.8 | 8.9 | 60.5 |
8 | Napoli | 38 | 16.7 | 9.4 | 11.9 | 55.6 | 44.0 | 11.6 | 59.6 |
9 | Fiorentina | 38 | 15.9 | 8.3 | 13.8 | 54.3 | 46.1 | 8.2 | 56.0 |
10 | Torino | 38 | 13.6 | 12.8 | 11.6 | 36.4 | 35.3 | 1.1 | 53.7 |
11 | Monza | 38 | 11.2 | 12.2 | 14.5 | 37.7 | 50.0 | -12.3 | 45.9 |
12 | Genoa | 38 | 10.7 | 12.6 | 14.6 | 38.2 | 47.2 | -9.0 | 44.9 |
13 | Udinese | 38 | 7.3 | 17.5 | 13.2 | 39.7 | 54.6 | -14.8 | 39.4 |
14 | Lecce | 38 | 9.1 | 12.0 | 16.9 | 41.0 | 60.6 | -19.6 | 39.3 |
15 | Sassuolo | 38 | 9.9 | 8.4 | 19.7 | 47.9 | 65.8 | -17.9 | 38.1 |
16 | Frosinone | 38 | 9.6 | 8.0 | 20.4 | 47.0 | 73.6 | -26.6 | 36.8 |
17 | Empoli | 38 | 8.6 | 10.4 | 19.0 | 32.4 | 56.8 | -24.4 | 36.2 |
18 | Verona | 38 | 7.8 | 11.4 | 18.8 | 36.8 | 52.2 | -15.4 | 34.8 |
19 | Cagliari | 38 | 7.7 | 9.9 | 20.4 | 39.0 | 68.6 | -29.6 | 33.1 |
20 | Salernitana | 38 | 4.2 | 9.7 | 24.0 | 31.3 | 76.3 | -44.9 | 22.4 |
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