Udinese’s 7:0 victory at Palermo was one of the best away performances ever seen in Serie A and it proved the Zebrette are capable of big things this season. Bari, on the other hand, salvaged a point against Fiorentina, but that is unlikely to have any effect on their survival fight seeing that Galletti are destined for a return to Serie B.

A win from another world

During the last decade, Udinese established themselves as a genuine mid table team, but also the one that occasionally produce stunning performances against Italy’s top sides. The Zebrette are doing something similar this term as well, but with the major difference being their consistency. Francesco Guidolin has put together a great side, which play well both home and away, with impressive Toto Di Natale and Alexis Sanchez terrorizing opposition defences across Italy. As a result, Udinese have won five out of last seven league games, thus closing the gap behind Champions League places to just one point. The unbelievable 7:0 victory at Renzo Barbera proved just where the team are at the moment, so if nothing unpredictable happens, Udinese should be able to record another convincing win.

The hosts will be without Almen Abdi, Dusan Basta, Damiano Feronetti, Agyemang Badu and Gabrielle Angela, but the good thing is that Francesco Guidolin will be able to field the same side that hammered Palermo last time out.

Bari still hoping for a miracle

With just 11 more rounds to go, Bari sit at rock bottom, 12 points adrift of safety, so they could be forgiven for giving up on this Serie A campaign. The arrival of coach Bortolo Mutti and a number of players in January helped the Galletti record a couple of positive results, but the general opinion is that it is now too late to save this season. Bari have shown some improvement by picking up two points from home games against Genoa and Fiorentina, but they remain utterly hopeless on the travels, having lost last five away games, so I don’t see how they are going to stop high-flying Udinese, especially as the visitors are missing quite a few first team regulars. Coach Bortolo Mutti was really unlucky to take over the team when everything was already decided as I feel he could have done something with this side.

Paulo Barreto, Sergio Almiron, Gergely Rudolf, Salvatore Masiello, Vitali Kutuzov, Simone Bentivoglio and Andrea Raggi are all sidelined with injuries, which is going to be a big problem as most of the players are usually considered first team regulars.

Verdict

High-flying Udinese should have an easy job against hapless Bari and the Zebrette are expected to make another big step towards the Champions League qualification. Bari are utterly disappointing on the travels and they enter this match without several very important players, so big home win look on the cards.

Our prediction: Home win with -1.5 Asian handicap

Odds: 1.94 (47/50)

Bookmaker: 188BET