Udinese vs Juventus Bet Builder Tips: Can Allegri Solve Juve's Scoring Issues?

The biggest game of Serie A‘s opening weekend is a Bianconeri derby between Udinese and Juventus on Sunday night (7:45 pm kick-off, UK time).

After two trophyless seasons, and with the advantage of not playing in Europe due to the UEFA ban, the pressure is on Massimiliano Allegri to get Juventus to compete for the Scudetto until the very end.

The team’s structure is very similar to last year (although one between Federico Chiesa and Dusan Vlahovic might still leave Turin by the end of the transfer window), and the biggest challenge for the manager who has won the title already six times is to give the team a clear identity and a more proactive and attacking style of play.

Before we get into it, you may want to look at my Serie A ante-post betting preview for a more broader look at Italy’s top flight.

• Under 2.5 Goals
• Both Teams To Score – NO
• Juventus to Score First Goal

Bet Builder odds: 4.86

Italy, Serie A, Sunday, August, 20, 7.45pm (UK)

Odds via Bet365 as at 3pm, August 14th 2023. Odds may now differ.

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Udinese vs Juventus Stats: Juve enjoy a trip to their fellow Bianconeri 

• Juventus are unbeaten in the last six games vs Udinese
• They have only dropped two points, in August 2021, when they met on the opening game of the season at Stadio Friuli
• Juventus haven’t lost their opening Serie A match since August 2015 when they were beaten 1-0 in Turin by Udinese
• Udinese collected 27 points at home last season, their best domestic record since 2018/2019.

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Udinese vs Juventus: Can Allegri solve Juve’s scoring issues? 

Under 2.5 Goals

Under Massimiliano Allegri, Juventus have struggled to create scoring chances and impose their style of play. They finished last season with the sixth-best attack (56 goals) but scored only 18 goals away from home, three less than Cremonese, who were relegated.

Had they not been deducted 10 points by the Italian FA, they’d have finished fourth in the table, with the same points as Inter, but they never looked like they could challenge Napoli.

For Juve, it was a tumultuous season, on and off the pitch, with their two most important players, Angel Di Maria and Paul Pogba, often missing because of injuries. Will Allegri be able to release more creativity into his side and offer Vlahovic more opportunities to find the back of the net?

Pre-season has been positive, with a 3-1 win against Real Madrid, but still, the Bianconeri look like they need a couple of players, especially in midfield.

A well-drilled, compact Udinese who knows how to stifle top teams (last year, they beat Roma, Inter and AC Milan at the Stadio Friuli) might prove hard to break down.

Both Teams To Score – NO

On the other hand, Juventus, especially far from home, were defensively sound: last season, they won all nine away games in Serie A without conceding.

Udinese started the previous campaign very strongly, winning six of their first eight matches, and were one of the fittest teams in Italy’s top flight until December.

Ultimately, they couldn’t live up to the expectations and only won four games between October 2022 and the end of the season. In 2023 they badly missed the creativity of Gerard Deulofeu (two goals and six assists until he got injured), as they scored only 23 goals in the calendar year.

The Spaniard is still sidelined, and the Friulani have also lost this summer Destiny Udogie to Spurs, captain Rodrigo Becao who joined Fenerbahce, Roberto Pereyra (who scored 13 goals and provided 21 assists over three seasons) and most likely also Lazar Samardžić.

Andrea Sottil’s side ended the season poorly with four straight defeats (including 1-0 to Juventus) and, at the moment, looks weaker than twelve months ago.

Juventus to Score First Goal

The above brings me to my next point: despite all their faults, Juventus are arguably one of the best sides in Serie A to ‘get the job done’ against lesser oppositions.

Since last February, they won seven of their last nine games played against sides who finished in the bottom half of the table. In 2022/2023, they also never lost a Serie A game once they took the lead.

Udinese are still a very physically strong side, but also a young one, with 16 players aged 23 or under: they might lack good ball carriers and have a tendency to sometimes switch off during key moments.

I feel they’ll set up deep, inviting pressure and trying to break, thanks to the pace of Kamara Hassane and Beto, or make the most of dead-ball situations: look out for centre-back Jaka Bijol, who scored three goals last season.

But Juventus really can’t afford to drop points here, pressure is on them, but they’ve got plenty of experience and a deep enough squad to start with a win.

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