Udinese vs Lazio

An injury plagued Udinese will look to build off of their draw away from home last week when they return to the Stadio Friuli and face-off against SS Lazio. Lazio are coming off of an important win at home and their recent improved form has put them within a point of cracking the top 10 of the Serie A table.

Udinese come into this match in 6^th place of the Serie A league table with 40 points. This leaves them 6 points back of 5th place AC Milan while holding a 1 point edge on 7^th place Sampdoria. The side managed by Marino are currently in line for a place in the first round of the UEFA Cup. The friuliani are coming off of a 1-1 draw away to Palermo last week at the Renzo Barbera and have now posted 2 wins, 1 draw and 2 losses over their past 5 games. The injured list remains cluttered this week with De Martino, Asamoah, Obodo, Zapata all out. In addition, Mesto is also expected to be unavailable and Ferronetti looks set to take his spot on the right side of midfield. Look for Dossena to come on to cover the left flank and Quagliarella to get the start at the center forward position. To his credit, Marino continues to use the 3-5-2 system despite the absence of Zapata from the back line.

The much improved Lazio are coming off of a 2-0 victory at home to Livorno at the Stadio Olimpico. With the victory the biancocelesti are in 11^th place of the league table with 33 points. They sit 1 point back of 10^th place Atalanta and just ahead of 12^th place Napoli on goal difference. That victory extended Lazio’s unbeaten run to 3 straight and they have conceded just 2 goals over their last 5 matches. This week manager Delio Rossi is expected to employ some type of turnover given the big derby match coming up against Roma in the middle of next week. Therefore, look for Goran Pandev to start on the bench and this may also be the case for Behrami. Siviglia and Cribari are expected to form the center back partnership in defense while Mutarelli, Del Nero and Zauri are out injured.

While Lazio have improved of late they have still only managed 1 win away from home all season. Also, much of that improvement has been due to the good work defensively and with at least some turnover expected this week it is hard to say how Lazio’s 4-3-1-2 will function. Udinese have hardly played like world beaters at home and they do have some important absences, but they have still managed 6 wins and 3 draws from 13 matches and should be good enough to hold serve against Lazio.

Prediction: Udinese (2-1)