Inter Milan vs Udinese

Stadio Giuseppe Meazza is the venue as title-bidding Inter Milan and bottom-half Udinese face each other in a lopsided Serie A contest.

Inter Milan cemented their status as the frontrunners in the Scudetto race with an emphatic 3-0 away win against reigning Serie A champions Napoli last weekend whilst also stretching their unbeaten run in all competitions to 12 matches (W9, D3). Inter’s defensive solidity has been off the charts this season, with Simone Inzaghi’s side racking up nine clean sheets in 14 league outings while conceding an average of only 0.5 goals per game. Topically, after back-to-back winless home league games in late September/early October, ‘I Nerazzurri’ have won their last two top-flight fixtures at Meazza ‘to nil,’ bolstering their bid to extend a five-game winning home league streak against Udinese. The fact three of those five victories yielded a clean sheet perfectly fits the narrative.

On the other hand, Udinese conceded a morale-crushing 97th-minute equalizer in a goal-glutted 3-3 draw against fellow bottom-half rivals Hellas Verona last weekend, defaulting on a prime opportunity to post only their second league win of the 2023/24 season. Instead, Gabriele Cioffi’s men substantiated their tag as ‘stalemate specialists,’ registering their ninth draw in 14 Serie A matches this term (W1, L4), more than any other side in Europe’s top-five leagues. Their proclivities for sharing the spoils have inevitably influenced their precarious position in the standings, with the ‘Friulians’ commencing this round only two points clear of the drop zone. Given the stature of their opposition, Udinese probably wouldn’t mind posting another draw, yet four defeats in their last five top-flight H2Hs (W1) paint a bleak picture.