Early-season strugglers Udinese welcome Lecce to the Dacia Arena for a Serie A encounter on Monday evening.
Still winless so far this season, Andrea Sottil is on thin ice in the Udinese hotseat, and they need points soon before a daunting November fixture list.
Match preview
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Udinese enter the Serie A weekend down in 17th, just one point above the relegation zone with the sides above them already moving a fair way clear.
The club's rapid demise is extraordinary considering this time last year they were right up near the summit, rivalling Napoli as the two sides who made the best starts to the 2022-23 campaign.
While Udinese's defeats came against strong opponents such as Juventus, Napoli and Fiorentina, the manner of the games they have failed to win has been the major disappointment.
Failure to beat an Empoli side who has lost six of their seven matches prior to their meeting last time out illustrates how much Udinese are underperforming.
That uneventful 0-0 draw was the side's third of the season already, with the others coming in equally frustrating circumstances against newly-promoted pair Frosinone and Cagliari.
An awful finish to last season has seemingly carried on into the new campaign, as Udinese's previous 12 Serie A games have resulted in five draws and seven defeats.
Lecce are up next before a trip to Monza in a weeks' time, and Sottil desperately needs two wins because their three fixtures in November match them up with Atalanta here at the Dacia, as well as away trips to AC Milan and Roma.
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After guiding Lecce to a position in the top four early in the campaign, Roberto D'Aversa has had some difficulty in maintaining that strong start.
A draw with Sassuolo shortly before the international break did at least stop them from extending their losing run to three games, after coming up well short in clashes against Juventus and Napoli.
Away form appears to be a slight worry though, as they are yet to win in any of their three games on the road, having drawn with Monza and Fiorentina on top of that defeat in Turin.
Lecce remain in the top half for the time being though, and that in itself is a fantastic achievement, ahead of sides such as Roma and Lazio.
D'Aversa's side enter the weekend just one point behind Atalanta BC and two short of Napoli, so if they can rediscover that early-season form, then the Giallorossi could start putting the pressure back on some of Serie A's underperforming clubs.
Like their upcoming opponents, Lecce will also be targeting their next two league fixtures, with Torino up next after this one, as their following two matches pit them against Roma and Milan too.
Team News
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Gerard Deulofeu remains the big miss in the Udinese ranks as he recovers from a knee injury.
New attacking imports Brenner and Keinan Davis are both yet to feature since joining over the summer as the potential replacements for the outgoing Beto.
Sottil will also be without defensive trio Kingsley Ehizibue (ACL), Adam Masina (muscle) and Enzo Ebosse (knee) for this visit of Lecce.
Nehuen Perez, after being booked in two of Udinese's previous three league games, was sent off in a friendly with Rijeka over the international break but should still start.
Returning from a domestic suspension is Sandi Lovric, but the Slovenian was surprisingly given very little game time during the break, playing just 16 minutes as a substitute against Northern Ireland on Tuesday.
Lecce's injury worries concern Lameck Banda, Kastriot Dermaku (both thigh) and Alexis Blin (foot), with the trio set to miss out here.
Albanian duo Ylber Ramadani and Medon Berisha enjoyed international success over the past week, as the former helped the senior squad one step closer to Euro 2024, while the latter scored to move their Under-21 side to the top of their qualifying section.
Udinese possible starting lineup:
Silvestri; Perez, Bijol, Kabasele; Ebosele, Samardzic, Lovric, Pereyra, Kamara; Thauvin, Lucca
Lecce possible starting lineup:
Falcone; Gendrey, Pongracic, Baschirotto, Gallo; Kaba, Ramadani, Rafia; Almqvist, Krstovic, Gabriel Strefezza
We say: Udinese 1-1 Lecce
Lecce took four points off Udinese last season despite finishing 10 points behind them in the final standings, and another draw between the sides here at the Dacia Arena looks likely.
All five of Udinese's points so far have come via draws, and while arguably stronger on paper, lingering injuries mean the hosts are likely to stay near the bottom for the time being.
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.
Top tip
Andrew Delaney
