Udinese will be looking to make it four straight victories in Serie A when they continue their 2020-21 campaign at home to struggling Crotone on Tuesday night.
The hosts have beaten Genoa, Lazio and Torino in their last three domestic matches to move into 10th spot in the table, while Crotone are still bottom despite an impressive win over Spezia on Saturday.
Match preview
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Udinese's form in the early stages of the season was incredibly disappointing, winning just one of their opening seven matches and picking up just four points in the process.
There has been a change in fortunes in recent weeks, though, with the club recording back-to-back victories over Genoa and Lazio at the end of November, before winning 3-2 at Torino on Saturday.
Torino fought back in the second half of the contest to level the scores at 2-2, but a 69th-minute effort from Ilija Nestorovski proved to be the difference between the two teams at Stadio Olimpico Grande Torino.
Luca Gotti's side, who finished 13th in Serie A last season, will now be looking to make it four victories in a row to potentially move into the top half of the table, but Crotone actually recorded a 2-1 victory when the two teams last locked horns at this level during the 2017-18 campaign.
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Crotone secured a return to the top flight courtesy of finishing second in Serie B last season, and there is no question that any position 17th or above would be considered a huge success this term.
I Pitagorici lost eight of their opening 10 league games of the season to sit bottom of the table with two points, but they will enter Tuesday's clash off the back of a huge 4-1 victory over Spezia on Saturday.
Confidence would have been low following a 4-0 home defeat to Napoli on December 6, but Junior Messias scored twice in an impressive win for Giovanni Stroppa's side.
Crotone remain bottom of the table, but there is now only a gap of four points to 17th-placed Fiorentina, and the newly-promoted club will be looking to make it back-to-back victories over Udinese in Italy's top flight.
Udinese Serie A form: LLDWWW
Crotone Serie A form: LDLLLW
Team News
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Udinese will again be without the services of Mato Jajalo and Sebastian Prodl on Tuesday night through injury, but Tolgay Arslan is available, having served a one-game suspension at the weekend.
Arslan is expected to return to the starting XI, potentially at the expense of Walace, but head coach Gotti is likely to keep faith with the majority of the side that featured against Torino.
Gerard Deulofeu should therefore retain his spot in the final third of the field, while Ignacio Pussetto is the team's joint leading goalscorer in Serie A this term with three and will again start.
As for Crotone, Luca Cigarini is still out with a muscular problem, but Jacopo Petriccione is available, having served his one-game suspension on Saturday.
There is a strong chance that Stroppa could select the same XI that impressively overcame Spezia, with Messias again being joined by Simeon Nwankwo in the final third of the field.
Pedro Pereira and Arkadiusz Reca should continue in the wing-back positions, meanwhile, with the hosts set to match Udinese's 3-5-2 formation on Tuesday night.
Udinese possible starting lineup:
Musso; Becao, Nuytinck, Samir; Larsen, De Paul, Arslan, Pereyra, Zeegelaar; Pussetto, Deulofeu
Crotone possible starting lineup:
Cordaz; Magallan, Marrone, Luperto; Pereira, Molina, Zanellato, Henrique, Reca; Nwankwo, Messias
We say: Udinese 2-0 Crotone
Crotone were excellent against Spezia at the weekend, but it is very difficult to back the visitors to pick up a positive result here due to Udinese's strong form. We are not predicting a hugely one-sided contest but fully expect the home side to record their fourth straight league success.
Top betting tip
Matt Law
Data Analysis
Our analysis of all available data, including recent performances and player stats up until an hour before kickoff, suggested the most likely outcome of this match was a Crotone win with a probability of 38.25%. A win for Udinese had a probability of 35.87% and a draw had a probability of 25.9%.
The most likely scoreline for a Crotone win was 0-1 with a probability of 9.32%. The next most likely scorelines for that outcome were 1-2 (8.41%) and 0-2 (6.38%). The likeliest Udinese win was 1-0 (8.97%), while for a drawn scoreline it was 1-1 (12.28%). The actual scoreline of 0-0 was predicted with a 6.8% likelihood.
