Lazio will meet with Udinese at the Stadio Olimpico in what is a must-not-lose battle now for the Rome side following being thrashed by two top sides recently which now means they’ve won just two of their past five games in Serie A.
Maurizio Sarri’s men have had quite a downfall in the past few games, and ever since they eased past Salernitana two weeks ago, the club were dominated 2-0 by Juventus and then thrashed by Napoli 4-0 which means they’ve now conceded at a ratio of two goals every 90 minutes for the past six games.
It all started out with a 4-1 demolition from Hellas Verona in mid-October, and although the club were able to redeem themselves by beating Fiorentina and Salernitana, drawing with Atalanta and losing to fellow Champions League hopefuls, Juventus, and league leaders, Napoli, it has put them in quite an alarming position.
In fact, Lazio are now slumped into eighth and a defeat for them here and victories elsewhere could put them into the bottom half of the table, and despite doing a decent job at times with wins over arch rivals Roma, Sarri would then be in serious trouble.
Also in the league table, Lazio have now drawn even with their goal difference as they have scored 25 and conceded 25 as well, which perfectly sums up their topsy-turvy season so far. In other words: they cannot lose here.
Udinese are in a much different position, because while they can’t afford many more defeats as they could then slip into the relegation zone, defeats to the likes of Sampdoria and Venezia and a points gap on teams like Spezia and Genoa should keep them from the bottom three right now regardless of the result here.
The club are still struggling tremendously now, as Luca Gotti's men drew 0-0 in a game they should have won on home soil, as they also lost to Torino just before this meaning they have failed to win more than one league game since early September when they beat fellow relegation fighters, Spezia.
Although Gotti’s side are in dire straits, a win would bring them near to the top half and a healthy distance from the drop zone, however, this is not expected and Forebet predicts a win here for Lazio and in a game that will see over 2.5 goals given the torrid form of both sides.
In the league, for every goal the Rome outfit scores, they concede. On the other hand, Udinese have scored only 16 times and let in 20 and Forebet now predicts they’ll lose with this troubling form.