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Udinese and Fiorentina will square off at Stadio Friuli in the first leg of the Coppa Italia semifinals. The hosts will look for redemption after they were knocked out by the Firenze side in the Round 16 of last years` competition.
Udinese managed to get past Milan in the quarters with a solid 2-1 away win and surely the hosts will feel they have at least a fighting chance in this tie, despite their poor overall season. Udinese is 15th in the Serie A standings and finally managed to win last round (2-0 at Bologna) after a horrible run of 4 consecutive league defeats. The bad run seems to have ended with that win, also considering the previous success at Milan in the cup.
Fiorentina has a great season and is currently 4th in the Serie A, but the Firenze side has been cursed by the injuries of their two best players, strikers Rossi and Gomez. The signed Matri on loan, but Fiorentina appears to be suffering lately, winning just one of their last 4 league games. Last time out in the Cup the visitors won harder than expected against Siena at home, 2-1. Over the weekend, Fiorentina lost at Cagliari 1-0, again proving that their offensive strength has massively decreased with both Rossi and Gomez out of the picture.
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Bet with the best odds and highest limits at Pinnacle. |
Team news and lineups.
There will be some rotation for both teams but Udinese and Fiorentina will field strong lineups overall. Udinese without Brkic and Silva, Fiorentina without Rossi, Gomez, Tomovic, Hegazy and Valero. Matri will probably be rested. It`s hard to predict the exact shape of the first 11, but the starting lineups could look something like this:
Udinese: Kelava – Heurtaux, Danilo, Naldo – Widmer, Yebda, Allan, Pinzi, Douglas Santos – Di Natale, Muriel
Fiorentina: Rosati – Roncaglia, Compper, Diakite, Pasqual – Anderson, Ambrosini, Vargas – Cuadrado, Matos, Joaquin
This game seems to be very evenly matched and my pick is that the outcome with the highest chances is the draw, despite Udinese recording just two tie games in the league. Fiorentina surely is the better team, but with their poor form and playing away from home, they can`t be to heavily favoured to win. Udinese is a good and dangerous side despite their league standing, and with their fans behind them should be able to challenge Fiorentina. Expect a rugged encounter, the visitors will be careful not to concede knowing that their attacking line is decimated, and Udine will be happy to play it safe themselves. My tip is the draw, both sides should be happy to settle the qualification in the reverse leg. Prediction: Udinese – Fiorentina 1-1. I love the value here so I`ll go with medium stakes.
Pick: Draw
Odds: 3.29 @ Pinnacle
Stake: 5
Possible profit: 11.45
Event date: 4 February
