Sunday March 20th 2011, 2pm GMT
Udinese broke into the top four in Serie A on Sunday thanks to a 4-0 win over Cagliari. The Friuli side have the best record in Italy in 2011, and their last defeat was in December at Lazio, who they dislodged from fourth place last week.
Last season’s top goalscorer Antonio Di Natale is setting the pace once again with 24 goals to his name this season. His strike partner Alexis Sánchez has also netted 12 for the Bianconeri, whose attacking style of football has earned them plenty of plaudits from the Italian press of late.
Udinese seem unstoppable at the moment, and can look forward to European football next season if they can maintain current form for the remaining nine Serie A fixtures. It is unfortunate that Sánchez and some of the other stars from this exciting unit are likely to have been lured to bigger European clubs by the time next season rolls around. On a more encouraging note for Udinese fans, coach Francesco Guidolin has just signed a new three-year contract with the club despite speculation that he was being lined up to replace Luigi Del Neri at Juventus.
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| Guidolin plans to continue shouting at Udinese players until June 2015 |
Catania scored a valuable win over struggling Sampdoria last week to lift themselves to fourteenth in the table, four points above the relegation zone. The last time these two met was in November, when Catania beat a less consistent Udinese 1-0. The Sicilians are far more assured at home than on the road however, and they are unlikely to prevent Udinese from recording their fourth straight win in comfortable fashion on Sunday.
Prediction – Udinese -1 (handicap betting) – 3pts
Match odds: Udinese 4/9
Draw 3/1
Catania 6/1
Udinese -1 11/8
Udinese: Last 5 Serie A Results
13.03.2011 – Cagliari 0-4 Udinese
06.03.2011 – Udinese 1-0 Bari
27.02.2011 – Palermo 0-7 Udinese
20.02.2011 – Udinese 0-0 Brescia
13.02.2011 – Cesena 0-3 Udinese
Catania: Last 5 Serie A Results
13.03.2011 – Catania 1-0 Sampdoria
06.03.2011 – Fiorentina 3-0 Catania
27.02.2011 – Catania 2-1 Genoa
20.02.2011 – Napoli 1-0 Catania
13.02.2011 – Catania 3-2 Lecce
