Spal play host to Udinese in Serie A soccer action from the Stadio Paolo Mazza on Thursday afternoon.
Spal come into this match in last place, 20th out or 20 teams with just 19 points and a record of 5 wins, 4 draws and 21 losses following a 3-0 loss to Sampdoria in their last match. In the loss to Sampdoria, Spal fell behind after just 12 minutes of play, and Samp wouldn’t stop there, striking twice in a span of two minutes just before halftime to push ahead 3-0 at the break. Spal would have chances in the second half, including 60% possession, but in the end the three-goal deficit was too much to overcome as Sampdoria held on and left Spal empty-handed at full time. Andrea Petagna leads Spal in scoring with 12 goals while Bryan Dabo has a team-high 3 assists for Spal this season.
Udinese on the other hand, enter this game in 15th place on 32 points with a record of 8 wins, 8 draws and 14 losses tied on points with Sampdoria after a 2-2 draw with Genoa last time out. In the tie with Genoa, Seko Fofana pushed Udinese in front in the 44th minute, and the lead would hold until Udinese doubled the advantage in the 73rd minute thanks to Kevin Lasagna. Genoa would pull a goal back in the 81st minute and Udinese almost held on for the win, but then they would concede a penalty late in second half stoppage time and while Udinese stopped the initial shot, Genoa scored on the rebound, stealing a point and forcing both sides to settle for a draw at full time. Kevin Lasagna leads Udinese with 8 goals this season after his tally in the Genoa game while Fofana has a team-high 6 assists this season. Juan Agustin is Udinese’s top goalkeeper, conceding 1.33 goals per 90 minutes with 10 clean sheets in 30 league appearances this season.
There’s not a lot to give an edge for this match, but Spal have conceded two or more goals in eight of their last ten games and also have lost eight of their last ten as well. Udinese’s scored two goals in three straight and that just seems to be the magic number for this match. I’ll side with Udinese to pick up the win on the ML as well as predicting over 1.5 goals for Udinese in this match.