New-Look Udinese Welcomes AC Milan

Game: Udinese Calcio vs AC Milan

Location: Dacia Arena, Udine, Italy

Date/Time: Saturday, 2:45 p.m. ET

Udinese vs AC Milan Betting Preview

Head to Head

AC Milan defeated Udinese 2-1 at the Dacia Arena last season as Zlatan Ibrahimovic scored an incredible 83rd-minute winner on a bicycle kick. In March, Udinese managed to get a point at the San Siro in a 1-1 draw.

Neither team has been the clear pick for betting online in this fixture over the last 10 meetings. With three draws between the sides, Milan lead the series 4-3 in that timespan.

Gotti Gone

On Tuesday, Udinese sacked manager Luca Gotti after an abysmal run of results. The final nail in Gotti’s coffin was a 3-1 loss to newly promoted Empoli, meaning that Udinese has conceded seven times in the last two matches.

The Friulians have struggled mightily to cope with Rodrigo De Paul’s departure and have won just one of their last 13 matches. They find themselves in 14th place and have gained just nine points since the end of September.

Paco Jemez, who most recently managed Rayo Vallecano, will now be tasked with improving a side that hasn’t finished in the top half since 2013. In the Antonio Di Natale days, Udinese play in Champions League football but could easily find themselves in a relegation fight here.

The product on the pitch hasn’t at all been pretty. Udinese has been outposessed in each and every one of its 16 Serie A matches and recently blew a 3-1 lead to Lazio to draw 4-4. Key midfielder Roberto Pereyra has missed the last three matches but young Bissau-Guinean forward Beto has been a bright spot.

AC Milan Shifts Focus

AC Milan hosted Liverpool in their final Champions League match, needing a win to make the Last 16. Things started off well as English center back Fikayo Tomori scored on a rebound on a corner to give the Rossoneri a 1-0 lead.

Mo Salah did Mo Salah things and quickly erased the lead and both sides came into halftime level. Milan had a belief it could get all three points vs a Liverpool side mostly made up of reserves, but Divock Origi had other ideas.

The mostly substitute striker Liverpool Jurgen Klopp has referred to as a “legend” scored his second winner in as many matches following a Tomori mistake. Out of European competition, Milan now can focus all of its energy on the Serie A title race.

They’ve been one of the best soccer picks in the league and their recent 2-0 win vs Salernitana vaulted them to the top of the Serie A table. Just one point ahead of rivals Inter Milan and with Napoli and Atalanta hot on their heels, there is little margin for error.

Unfortunately, Milan has somewhat of an injury crisis. Both of their joint second-leading scorers, Rafael Leao and Olivier Giroud, are out as well as another goal threat in Ante Rebic. Simon Kjaer will miss the rest of the season with an ACL tear and right back Davide Calabria hasn’t played since mid-November.

Prediction

There are two competing forces at work here. Eager to impress the new manager, Udinese could come out with renewed energy. Meanwhile, AC Milan will be motivated following a disappointing loss and needs all the points they can get.

Even with all of the injuries, I think Milan has enough quality to win on the road here, like they did at Genoa last week. Take the Rossoneri at -115 sportsbook odds.

Pick: AC Milan -115