The Italian Serie A returns this weekend and they are four fixtures to enjoy on Sunday the 22nd of August including the meeting between Udinese and Juventus at the Dacia Arena.
Both teams will be aiming to improve on their finishing position from last season as Udinese were down in 14th place and Juventus finished in 4th place, just one point clear of 5th place Napoli to qualify for the Champions League.
Udinese will want to put the end of last season behind them as they lost their final 3 Serie A fixtures at the end of the 2020/21 campaign. In fact, Udinese failed to win any of their last 5 league games and they managed to pick up just a single point across those 5 matches, thanks to a 1-1 draw at home against Bologna.
Just @FabioQ20 casually balling on the sidelines 😎⚽️ pic.twitter.com/xKT7E1RtDL— JuventusFC (@juventusfcen) August 19, 2021
Just @FabioQ20 casually balling on the sidelines 😎⚽️ pic.twitter.com/xKT7E1RtDL
Udinese’s performance at the end of last season was poor and they have won just 1 of their 7 most recent home Serie A clashes. They have failed to win any of their last 6 league fixtures at the Dacia Arena and lost 5 of those 6 games, including a 2-1 loss at the hands of Juventus.
Trends show Udinese have failed to score more than a single goal in each of their last 6 home Serie A matches and have conceded goals in each of those 6 games.
Juventus were disappointing last season under the guidance of former midfielder Andrea Pirlo have reappointed Massimiliano Allegri as manager for the 2021/22 campaign. Last season was the first time since 2010/11 that Juventus have failed to win the Serie A title and not only did they fail to win the title but they almost missed out on the top four altogether.
However, Juventus finished last season strongly and they have won 4 of their last 5 Serie A games, with the only defeat in their last 7 coming at the hands of AC Milan. Trends show Juventus are undefeated in 32 of their last 38 Serie A games and they have won their last 3 away Serie A games in a row. The wins came at Udinese, Sassuolo, and Bologna.
Juventus have scored 2 or more goals in each of their last 3 away league games but have conceded exactly one goal in each of their last 5 on the road. You must go back 10 away Serie A matches to find the last time Juventus kept a clean sheet.
Team news and Udinese could be without the injured duo of Ilija Nestorovski and Mato Jajalo but they are the only players expected to be unavailable for the hosts.
Juventus are expected to be without injured French midfielder Adrien Rabiot. Manuel Locatelli has recently joined the club from Sassuolo but the Italian may have settle for a place on the bench.
Juventus will be keen to get off to a good start this season, beginning with victory in this game. We expect to see the away team scoring at least 2 goals on their way to maximum points and the possibility of a clean sheet.