Roma vs Udinese Predictions

• Roma sacked coach Daniele De Rossi this week and appointed former Torino coach Ivan Juric
• Roma have failed to win nine of their last 10 Serie A matches, including three of their last four at home
• Udinese have avoided defeat in their last nine away league matches, including their last five away trips
• Udinese have scored and conceded in five of their last eight away games in Serie A

Roma want what Udinese have got

Roma begin life under new coach Ivan Juric with a testing home game against the surprise Serie A leaders as Udinese arrive at the Olimpico looking to maintain their impressive start.

I Friuliani have won three and drawn one of their opening four league matches, picking up where they left off last season to extend their overall unbeaten run in Serie A to nine. Kosta Runjaić only took over in the summer, but the ex-Legia Warsaw boss is already looking like a shrewd appointment.

Udinese bolstered their squad by re-signing club legend Alexis Sanchez and adding midfielders Jurgen Ekkelenkamp and Jesper Karlstrom, but Runjaić has changed the entire outlook of the team by instilling a more offensive playing style and high pressing.

Post-Mourinho honeymoon period elapsed

They came from two goals down to beat Parma last weekend and will not be hard for a struggling Goallorossi side to brush aside even if there is a new coach bounce in Rome.  As Ole Gunnar Solskjaer and now Daniele De Rossi discovered, there can be a quick uptick in results when you replace Jose Mourinho but that feel-good factor eventually runs out and problems return.

De Rossi’s team had been poor defensively this season and new striker signing Artem Dovbyk has not been as prolific as he was in La Liga. Juric is set to bring in a totally different style with more of a focus on intensity and a potential change of formation to 3-4-2-1.

It could take some time for Roma to adapt to the new ways and with Udinese’s confidence as high as ever, it seems worthwhile taking the odds on offer for the visitors to avoid defeat in the capital this weekend.