Udinese vs Fiorentina preview

February 3, 2014
By: Nemanja Lazarevic

Udinese vs FiorentinaHaving finally ended a four-match losing run in the league, Udinese will hope to produce another impressive showing when they host Fiorentina in the first leg of their Coppa Italia semi-final tie.

Meanwhile, Viola missed another great chance to climb to Champions League positions as they lost to Cagliari, but Coppa Italia is clearly their best opportunity to pick up a trophy this term.

This season is clearly not going according to plan for Udinese, but the Zebrette still have a lot to play for this term.

Francesco Guidolin’s side slipped into the Serie A danger zone following the run of four straight league defeats, but the 2-0 away triumph over Bologna acted as a major boost to the players’ confidence.

As a result, the Zebrette sit six points above the bottom three and are able to turn their focus to the Coppa Italia campaign.

While struggling in the league, Udinese have been thoroughly impressive in the Cup, defeating Inter and Milan to reach the Coppa Italia semi-finals.

The Friulani clearly face a difficult task against very good Fiorentina side, as witnessed by odds of 3.25 (9/4) offered on home win.

Francesco Guidolin is expected to make some changes to the starting line-up, but 17-year-old keeper Simone Scuffet looks set to keep his place in the side.

Francesco Benussi remains sidelined, whereas Gabriel Silva, Zeljko Brkic and Silvan Widmer all face fitness tests.

Probable starting line-up (3-5-1-1): Scuffet – Heurtaux, Danilo, Domizzi – Widmer, Pinzi, Allan, Lazzari, Silva – Lopez – Muriel.

Considering everything thrown their way this season, Fiorentina have done fairly well so far, although it is clear Vincenzo Montella’s side have missed several excellent opportunities to gain the upper hand in the race for the final Champions League berth.

Their rivals Napoli have failed to win any of their last three league fixtures, but while Viola beat Catania away, they could only pick up one point from games against Genoa and Cagliari.

Vincenzo Montella’s side were somewhat unfortunate not to win at least one of the two fixtures, but the reality is they were far from their best in those matches.

This is exactly why the talented manager will demand a response from his side and everything suggests he is set to field a very strong line-up against Udinese.

With that in mind, there may be some value in odds of 2.55 (31/20) offered at BetVictor on Fiorentina to win the first leg at Friuli.

Borja Valero looks set to return having recovered from injury, whereas Juan Cuadrado and Manuel Pasqual will be recalled after they were rested at the weekend.

Probable starting line-up (4-3-3): Neto – Roncaglia, Compper, Rodriguez, Pasqual – Aquilani, Pizarro, Valero – Joaquin, Matri, Cuadrado.

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