Fiorentina VS Udinese

Stadio Artemio Franchi is the venue as Fiorentina and Udinese go head-to-head in an exciting Serie A meeting. 

After racking up ten wins from 11 matches (L1) across all competitions in October and November, Fiorentina’s form has dwindled since the start of December, with Raffaele Palladino’s side only winning twice in five games (D2, L1). Last weekend’s 1-0 loss at Bologna left ‘La Viola’ six points adrift of Serie A’s table summit pre-round. However, they still have a game in hand on the leaders, meaning an unlikely Scudetto battle remains on the cards. The hosts have excelled at Artemio Franchi since the beginning of April, only losing once in 19 outings (W13, D5), and even that was on penalties. Furthermore, they’ve won five consecutive home Serie A fixtures in the build-up to this clash against Udinese, a side they’ve defeated 16 times in home league action since their return to the top flight in 2004/05.

However, Udinese have recently flipped that script, avoiding defeat on t of two of their last three visits to Florence (W1, D1). Against this backdrop, Kosta Runjaic’s men have recently stuttered on the road, suffering five defeats across their last seven away games (W1, D1), including a 2-0 loss at Inter Milan in midweek Coppa Italia action. That result forms part of Udinese’s torrid run of just one win from eight matches anywhere (D1, L6). Therefore, it’s understandable that they’ve dropped to mid-table after surprisingly occupying a top-four spot after the opening four rounds. Since then, only Hellas Verona have lost more Serie A outings than Udinese! They’ve also failed to keep a clean sheet on the road this season (W2, D2, L5).