Still seeking their first league win of the season, Serie A strugglers Udinese meet a buoyant Genoa side at the Dacia Arena on Sunday.
While the Bianconeri were blown away by Napoli during the midweek round, their Ligurian visitors upset Roma to post seven points from their first six matches since promotion.
Match preview
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Mired in the relegation zone after the first half-dozen games of their Serie A campaign, Udinese are yet to win since starting off in August with a Coppa Italia defeat of Catanzaro, and they have now scored just once in their last four.
While that sole strike came against reigning champions Napoli on Wednesday evening, the Scudetto holders netted four in reply, and Lazar Samardzic's 80th-minute finish provided scant consolation for another failure to get off the mark.
Andrea Sottil's side made a rapid start last year, at one time joining Napoli inside Italy's top four, but their winless opening to 2023-24 continues a bleak spell for followers of the Bianconeri, who have been on a downward spiral for some time now.
With just three points and two goals on the board, Udinese have not found the net in any of their last five home fixtures stretching back to last season - the Friuli club have never before recorded a sequence of six Serie A home matches without scoring.
Attempting to avoid such a fate this week, they enter Sunday's contest unbeaten in their last 12 league games against Genoa. Having also won four of their last six meetings with the Ligurians in Udine - keeping five clean sheets and conceding just twice - at least recent history will be on their side.
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In stark contrast to their hosts, Genoa's midweek engagement could not have gone any better, as they plunged Roma into crisis by thumping Jose Mourinho's men 4-1 at Stadio Luigi Ferraris on Thursday evening.
Completing an unlikely capital-city double, the Grifone added to August's win over Lazio in some style, with Albert Gudmundsson scoring the opener and showing some great individual skill to engineer Mateo Retegui's strike just before the break.
The Italy international's goal put Genoa 2-1 in front, before Morten Thorsby and much-delayed debutant Junior Messias applied the finishing touches late on, leaving the home crowd in raptures.
Having returned from Serie B at the first time of asking last season, Genoa had won only one of their first five league matches following promotion, so such a result not only boosts morale but also brings three sorely needed points.
Alberto Gilardino's side face his former club Milan next time out at Marassi, but first they tackle the more prosaic task of improving their record on the road.
Although they stunned Lazio in Rome, Genoa still have just one away goal to their name this term: Retegui's winner at Stadio Olimpico. As they have also managed only six goals in their last 11 league matches against Udinese, both tallies must improve if they are to secure precious back-to-back wins.
Team News
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Providing some context to Udinese's woes, the Friulani's treatment room is jam-packed at the moment, as Enzo Ebosse (ACL) recently joined Gerard Deulofeu, Keinan Davis, Adam Masina, Kingsley Ehizibue and summer signing Brenner on the sidelines. Christian Kabasele could return to the squad on Sunday, though, and may even make it into the hosts' starting XI.
Lorenzo Lucca and Florian Thauvin are set to continue up front, despite their lack of goals; among players in Europe's top five leagues, only Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and Jeremy Le Douaron (both 20) have attempted more shots than Thauvin (18) without scoring this season.
Having bagged both of his club's Serie A goals in the current campaign, Lazar Samardzic perhaps poses more of a threat from midfield; he is the youngest player still active in Italy's top flight to have been directly involved in at least 15 goals since 2021 - nine of his own and six assists.
Meanwhile, Genoa travel north with two major concerns, as they lost midfield duo Milan Badelj and Kevin Strootman to muscular injuries in the first half of their victory against Roma.
Milan loanee Junior Messias could therefore make his first start for the Grifone, with Morten Thorsby another contender for promotion from the bench.
Aaron Martin returns from suspension and competes with Johan Vasquez and Alan Matturro for selection on the left side of defence, but Alberto Gilardino may be loath to make too many changes after such a landmark win in midweek.
Udinese possible starting lineup:
Silvestri; Perez, Bijol, Kabasele; Ebosele, Samardzic, Walace, Lovric, Kamara; Thauvin, Lucca
Genoa possible starting lineup:
Martinez; Dragusin, Bani, Vasquez; Messias, Thorsby, Frendrup, Kutlu, Martin; Gudmundsson; Retegui
We say: Udinese 1-0 Genoa
It could be a close-fought encounter between two teams aiming to secure mid-table safety this season, and Udinese could finally get up and running with a one-goal win. Genoa impressed on Thursday night, but turning in consistent performances has proved beyond them so far.
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Top tip
Jonathan O'Shea
