Italy vs Ukraine Predictions

The last couple of years have been dark ones for Italy and the early signs this season are that they are still a long way off rediscovering their former glory. Their latest test comes against a Ukraine side which also missed out on the World Cup but is in good form heading into this Wednesday’s international friendly in Genoa.

Roberto Mancini is the man who has been tasked with rebuilding this Italian side following the failure of their World Cup qualifying campaign. He won his first match in May, a 2-1 victory over Saudi Arabia but it has been four winless games since, which includes a poor start to their UEFA Nations League campaign last month. A home draw with Poland and defeat in Portugal leaves them faced with the prospect of dropping down to the second tier of that competition with a trip to Poland coming this weekend.

Italy may see Ukraine as good preparation for that match. The UEFA Nations League will be of real interest to Ukraine now though after they won their opening two matches against Czech Republic and Slovakia in that competition. They are now very well placed to win that group and potentially secure entry to Euro 2020 via the backdoor. They face the Czechs again next week with home advantage and will be really targeting that match.

Ukraine are still managed by Andriy Shevchenko, who is of course a household name in Italy. He didn’t make a great start to his time in the national team hot-seat but things have certainly picked up of late. Ukraine are unbeaten in 2018 and haven’t lost any of their 7 matches since the end of their World Cup qualifying campaign, which should see them take real confidence into this one.

Italy meanwhile have only won once since the dismal end to their bid to make it to Russia. It’s just 1 win in 9 matches overall now, which is a dreadful run for a side of their pedigree. The overall impression remains that legends have departed the international scene while fresh talent has been relatively slow in emerging. This is clearly a rebuilding process, with no fewer than 15 players in this squad yet to reach 10 caps and overall backing Ukraine Double Chance appeals here with the Eastern Europeans the more settled outfit and in much the better form.

Going for Both Teams to Score also looks good. This is no longer the rock solid Italy of old and they’ve gone 7 games without a clean sheet heading into this, with 5 of the last 6 producing goals at each end.