Udinesevs.Parma

While the Friulani overcame an unseemly penalty-kick squabble to beat Lecce last time out, their visitors began life under new management by beating local rivals.

Match preview

Although Udinese ultimately came away from Via del Mare with a 1-0 win, their Friday night fixture grabbed headlines for all the wrong reasons, as star striker Lorenzo Lucca refused to let designated penalty taker Florian Thauvin attempt a first-half spot kick.

The Italy international ignored the protracted arguments of his teammates - including Thauvin and vastly experienced forward Alexis Sanchez - but he eventually did convert it, before celebrating the goal by himself.

The extraordinary scenes then continued, as Lucca was soon substituted by enraged boss Kosta Runjaic, and - like the recent, but slightly different, "Gian Piero Gasperini versus Ademola Lookman" situation - the fall-out has gone on for several days.

Nonetheless, Udinese are now on a four-game unbeaten run, having beaten Venezia and drawn with then-league leaders Napoli before winning both of their last two matches without conceding.

As a result, the Friulani occupy a top-half place and will avoid any repeat of last season's scrap for survival, so they can now seek to finish Runjaic's first year on a high.

This week, they aim to record a streak of three Serie A home wins for the first time since September 2022 by doing the double over Parma.

Having found points hard to come by after September's 3-2 home defeat to Udinese - in which Mandela Keita was sent off and they squandered a two-goal lead - Parma recently made the decision to part ways with promotion-winning coach Fabio Pecchia.

After a series of four straight defeats, new boss Cristian Chivu made an immediate impact last weekend, as his team beat Bologna in an Emilian derby, thanks to strikes in either half from Ange-Yoan Bonny and Simon Sohm.

Throughout the Gialloblu's whole history, no manager has ever won their first two Serie A fixtures, but Chivu will attempt to do that on Saturday, as Parma also look for their first back-to-back league wins of the season.

Sitting 17th in the Serie A standings, only two points above third-bottom Empoli, they still have plenty of work remaining to secure a second successive year in Italy's top flight.

Having previously coached in youth football, ex-Inter Milan defender Chivu has been trusted to keep the Crociati afloat; starting with a win over European contenders - and posting Parma's third clean sheet of the campaign - suggests he might be able to do so.

Udinese Serie A form:

L

L

W

D

W

W

Parma Serie A form:

D

L

L

L

L

W

Team News

Having lost both Razvan Sava and Maduka Okoye to injury, Udinese must turn to their third-choice goalkeeper, 39-year-old Daniele Padelli, to fill in this weekend.

The hosts will also be without long-term absentee Isaak Toure, but Kosta Runjaic has no other fitness issues to concern him.

Having patched things up with Runjaic following a public apology, Lorenzo Lucca will look to increase his 10-goal tally in Serie A this season - and perhaps produce his first assist.

Meanwhile, Parma boss Cristian Chivu is set to stick with the same tactical setup as deployed on his debut, with a 4-3-3 formation being led by French striker Ange-Yoan Bonny.

Finally returning to form after going 10 straight games without a goal involvement, Bonny has been directly involved in two goals in his last three appearances.

The visitors are still burdened by a long injury list, featuring Adrian Benedyczak, Yordan Osorio, Milan Djuric, Alessandro Vogliacco, Adrian Bernabe, Hernani and Valentin Mihaila; Alessandro Circati, Mateusz Kowalski and Gabriel Charpentier have all been ruled out for the rest of the season.

In some rare good news for Chivu, teenage centre-back Giovanni Leoni is available after serving a suspension.

Udinese possible starting lineup:

Padelli; Kristensen, Bijol, Solet, Kamara; Thauvin, Lovric, Karlstrom, Ekkelenkamp; Sanchez, Lucca

Parma possible starting lineup:

Suzuki; Del Prato, Valenti, Balogh, Valeri; Keita, Estevez, Sohm; Man, Bonny, Cancellieri

We say: Udinese 2-1 Parma

While Parma have picked up just one away win all season, Udinese have scored three times in both of their last two home games.

Full of confidence - and with several attacking threats to call on - the Bianconeri should prevail, potentially dropping their opponents back into the bottom three.

Written by

Jonathan O'Shea

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