Serie A betting preview :Udinese-Internazionale
Very busy day for clubgowi today, five football and three NFL selections and you can read one of those eight previews below. It is probably the least interesting and definitely the smallest stake football preview, but is free ( subscribers have had to pay a massive 2.7 euros for the other seven previews !) and better than nothing.
We are not even a third of the way through the season, but with Roma, Napoli and Juventus already pulling away from the pack, Fiorentina in between the big three and Inter and only three Champions League spots up for grabs, it is hard to see how the visitors can be looking for anything less than three points in any game, at least until that gap is closed. Settling for a point is not really the Inter way nowadays in any case and they have already scored a whopping 15 goals in five away starts.
I did write in similar terms about them in midweek ....Inter have performed really well in these midweek Serie A fixtures, winning five of the last six, with the loss coming in what was really a meaningless fixture for them. This match is far from that and already four points off Champions League pace, they need a maximum return to put pressure on the top three, who play later in midweek. They arrive without fringe striker Ishak Belfodil who is suspended, but have scored a (joint) league high 23 goals this season, with ten different players contributing and I feel they will see the return of veteran defender Walter Samuel to the line up, after six months out and keeper as fair exchange and he will offer a calming influence to a young flat back 3 which has been conceding too freely recently. An even bigger plus will be having top class goalkeeper Samir Handanovic back between the sticks, they have conceded a goal every 212 minutes this season when he plays, one every 25 without him !
That ended 1-1, but the game was played in awful conditions and Inter lost Handanovic with injury at the break, but only the woodwork denied them the win, however, a draw was probably a fair result. Handanovic is in the squad and Javier ( Clark Kent) Zanetti has travelled, the 40 yo has not played this season, but is looking for his 601st Serie A start after recovering from injury and just to have him in the group is probably a plus for Inter. Not much besides Rodrigo Palacios upfront, now they are without Mauro Icardi, who is replaced by 17 yo Romania George Puscas, who probably views Zanetti like his grandfather ! That leaves them looking very weak in the striking department, but they do pose a threat from midfield and we might see Fredy Guarin in the trequartista role.
Udinese are without suspended midfielder Giampiero Pinzi and injured right back Dusan Basta (9-0-1... who has been heavily courted by Inter) and have not looked so offensively threatening this season, as they did at the end of last, with just 11 goals from ten outings. It was a similar slow start last season, just three wins and 18 goals from 14 starts (1.28 per game), but then hit their stride with 1.71 goals per game over the rest of the campaign.
However, Udinese scored eight against Inter last season and it is hard to see them coming up short today, the last four h2h meetings here have averaged 4.0 goals (all "over") and I once again see this likely to develop into something of a shoot out once that all important first goal comes. 1.25 units "over" 2.5 goals 2.00 asian line/Ibramarket.
Udinese:Benussi, Brkic, Kelava;Bubnjic, Danilo, Domizzi, Gabriel Silva, Heurtaux, Naldo, Widmer;Allan, Badu, Bruno Fernandes, Jadson, Lazzari, Merkel, Mlinar, Pereyra, Zielinski;Di Natale, Muriel, Nico Lopez, Ranegie.
Inter: 1 Samir Handanovic, 30 Juan Pablo Carrizo, 12 Luca Castellazzi, 2 Jonathan, 4 Javier Zanetti, 5 Juan Jesus, 6 Marco Andreolli, 18 Wallace, 23 Andrea Ranocchia, 25 Walter Samuel, 31 Alvaro Pereira, 35 Rolando, 55 Yuto Nagatomo; Mateo Kovacic, 11 Ricky Alvarez, 13 Fredy Guarin, 16 Gaby Mudingayi, 17 Zdravko Kuzmanovic, 19 Esteban Cambiasso, 21 Saphir Taider; Rodrigo Palacio, 28 George Puscas.
Good Luck.