Udinese vs SPAL 18/05/19

18 May 2019

Udinese and SPAL will face-off at the Dacia Arena in contrasting circumstances. While the hosts still fight to remain in Serie A, the visitors calmly sit in the middle of the table, with a little to play for here.

Although last weekend’s 3-2 away win over Frosinone brought the hosts’ five-game SA winless run to a halt (D2, L3), they are still frantically looking over their shoulders as they sit just two points above 18th-placed Empoli. With two league fixtures left, the Friulians hope to post their elusive first SA win over SPAL (D2, L1) and boost their chances of preserving a top-flight status. At home, Udinese rare unbeaten in their last seven league games (W4, D3) and have restricted their opponents to a maximum of one goal per match six times during the run. Far more comfortable at home, they have gobbled 26 of their total 37 SA points at this venue (70.27%), with seven of their nine league wins coming here. Interestingly, five of those victories have been settled by a narrow one-goal margin in Udinese’s favor, with just two featuring over 2.5 goals.

Meanwhile, a 2-1 home loss to Napoli last time out has ended SPAL’s four-game SA unbeaten run (W3, D1), and it was the fifth of their pevious six league games that have produced over 2.5 goals. Even though they’ve won their last two SA away clashes, scoring four goals in each, the White and Blues have endured mixed fortunes over their past seven SA road fixtures (W3, D1, L3). Notably, five of SPAL’s six SA away wins have come against the teams from the bottom half of the table, with four of those triumphs arriving in 2019. Even though they’ve failed to preserve a blank slate in 13 of 18 SA road games, Leonardo Semplici’s men have conceded a goal inside the opening 15 minutes of the game on just two occasions this term.