Juventus vs Udinese Betting Tips

Juventus are not the same side that stormed to last season’s Serie A title. There’s no more Pirlo, no more Tevez and no more Vidal. Pirlo is an obvious major loss to the team’s midfield and their ability to control the flow of play. It’s never ideal to lose an elite goal-scorer – indeed most teams spend their summer trying to find that type of player.

Of course, the club has been astutely managed and they had the funds to replenish this squad. Dybala, Mandzukic and Zaza look more than capable of combining to form a talented and threatening attack, while Khedira brings the size and presence to the team’s midfield.

Their latest addition, picking up Sandro from Porto, gives the team pace and skill down the left flank and of course, Juventus will always play good defensive football. There’s been no alarms in the preseason, but still, there are a lot of new players in Juventus’ starting lineup on Sunday, and a lot of players who haven’t played much or any competitive football with one another. Maybe a shaky start to the season should be expected.

Udinese endured a miserable finish to the 2014-15 Serie A season losing seven of their last 10 games and finishing just two places clear of relegation. It was a summer of ups and downs too with striker Antonio Di Natale convinced to stay, but valuable creative midfielder Allan departing. The club will be hoping that Argentinian recruit Gaspar Iñíguez can fill that void.

The end of last season was not good, but we’re not convinced that this squad is as bad as that. Di Natale guarantees goals and there’s enough depth to suggest that this team is capable of a solid season.

A 0-0 draw in their second game last season ended a six-game winning streak against Udinese for Juventus. They’ll look to start a new streak and to get their own season off to a positive start. There’s no reason to not bet for a Juventus win – accept that the odds don’t return much.

That brings us to the Asian Handicap line, where we get Udinese at +1.5. Yes, this is the defending champions playing at home, but it’s also the opening weekend and it is a side that has little experience of playing together. Udinese will have one thing in mind in this game and they’re unlikely to defer from that even if they do concede a goal. We like the odds of this being a one-goal game and will take Udinese to keep it tight.