Udinese vs Juventus

Udinese and Juventus are set to trade tackles at Dacia Arena in their opening 2021/22 Serie A fixture.

Following an underwhelming 14th-place finish, Udinese went on to sell two vital first-team players in the shape of Rodrigo de Paul and Juan Musso, indicating another tough slog is on the cards here. According to recent tradition, a draw is seemingly off the table, with Udinese drawing just once in their last 11 opening Serie A matches (W4, L6). Additionally, none of the previous four top-flight H2Hs between these two sides in Udine have ended level, with ‘I Friulani’ picking up one win compared to Juventus’ three. There are no many reasons for the home supporters to cheer about, especially considering Luca Gotti’s men take the field winless in their last six home Serie A games in a row (D1, L5). A lack of firepower upfront saw Udinese draw a blank four times in that six-match sequence.

In the meantime, after seeing their nine-year reign of dominance in Serie A coming to a halt at the hands of Inter Milan last term, Juventus decided to cut ties with Andrea Pirlo and bring Massimiliano Allegri back to the helm. The 54-year-old knows in-depth about winning Serie A, having led the ‘Bianconeri’ to five consecutive league titles during his first tenure. Indeed, Allegri’s first stint in Turin saw him boast a better win ratio of 70.48% than any other coach in Juventus’ history. Although he might not be pleased with the squad he inherited from Pirlo, the fact that the record-time Serie A champions have scored in both halves across their last four competitive outings is encouraging (W4). But, the visitors have failed to keep a clean sheet in 14 straight top-flight matches, their third-worst such run.