Udinese v Inter stat pack

Inter are back in action at the weekend as they face Udinese on Sunday 1 May at 18:00 CEST. Both teams come into the game off the back of mid-week fixtures as they caught up on their rescheduled Week 20 matches. The two sides faced different fortunes however, as the Nerazzurri came off second best against Bologna, while Gabriele Cioffi’s side enjoyed a thumping 4-0 victory against Fiorentina.

PREVIOUS ENCOUNTERS This match is the 98th meeting between the two sides in Serie A. The Nerazzurri have come away victorious on 49 of those occasions, compared to Udinese’s 21, with 27 draws between them.

Inter have won six of the last eight league matches against the team from Udine, with the remaining two ending in a draw. In seven of those games, the Nerazzurri did not concede any goals. The last win for Udinese in this fixture came on 16 December 2017, as they sealed a 3-1 victory at San Siro.

In the last seven seasons, of all the Serie A games played from Week 35 onwards, Inter v Udinese has been the match-up that has occurred the most number of times. The two sides have met at this late stage of the season on five occasions since 2015/16. During those games, the Nerazzurri scored an average of 3.4 goals per match, winning on four occasions and drawing once.

RECENT FORM This game sees the two clubs with the highest average points for April in Serie A pitted against one another. Inter’s average is at 2.4 (deriving from four wins and one loss in five games), while Udinese’s is 2.2 (deriving from four wins, one draw and one loss in six games).

In April, Udinese scored 17 goals in Serie A (an average of 2.8 per game), which is seven more than the next highest team. In three of the last six games in Serie A, Cioffi’s side have scored four goals or more. Prior to that, they had only managed to do the same in three of the last 163 league games. Udinese have won four out of their last six, which is the same number of victories as they had achieved in their previous 25 fixtures.

GOALSCORING DEFENDERS AND OTHER TRIVIA Inter and Udinese have the league’s most prolific backlines for scoring in the opposition’s net, as defenders have grabbed 13 goals for each side. No Udinese backline has ever scored more in a single season in Serie A; the current side have equalled the total set in the 1952/53 and 1984/85 seasons.

Furthermore, their attacking record in the last 15 minutes of games is the second best in the league. They’ve bagged 16 this season, second only to Atalanta on 18. Udinese have scored at least one goal during this closing period in three of the last five Serie A games (five out of 12 goals were scored during this time).

Inter and Bayern Munich are the only two teams across the five major European leagues to have both the best attacking and defensive records in their respective competitions: the Nerazzurri have 72 goals for and 28 against, while the Bavarian side have scored 92 and let in 30.

Inter (12) and Udinese (11), alongside Atalanta (12), have the highest tally of goals scored by substitutes over the course of this season in the league.

Inter are the team that have scored the greatest number of direct goals in Serie A (10), with Udinese (and Venezia) just behind them on seven.

PERISIC NEARS 250 APPEARANCES Ivan Perisic’s next match will mark his 250th appearance for the Nerazzurri in all competitions since his arrival in Italy. He’s the only Inter player who has at least 30 goals and 30 assists (51 goals and 44 assists for the Croatian playmaker).

PLAYER FOCUS Sunday’s match will be Inter’s sixth in all competitions this season where they will be without Hakan Calhanoglu. The Nerazzurri have managed to win the last five without him, scoring an average of 3.2 goals per game.

Joaquin Correa’s last goal in Serie A was in the reverse fixture against Udinese, scoring a brace in that game. In total, he has scored three goals against them in the league, only topping that against Milan with four.

In their next appearance, it will be Matteo Darmian’s 200th league match and Roberto Gagliardini’s 150th.

FORMER PLAYERS Samir Handanovic made his Serie A debut playing for Udinese in 2004/05. Since then, the Inter goalkeeper has kept 194 clean sheets in the league, more than anyone else in the same position. Across the five major European leagues, only Pepe Reina (218) and Petr Cech (202) have more.

Alexis Sanchez played his first 95 matches in Serie A for Udinese, scoring 20 goals.

Goalkeeper Daniele Padelli is now at Udinese, but he was with Inter for the last two league seasons, making just four appearances for the Nerazzurri.

DISCIPLINARY DETAILS: INTER WITHOUT CALHANOGLU Hakan Calhanoglu will miss out on the game after picking up a booking against Bologna, leaving him suspended this weekend. For the Nerazzurri, three players are within one booking of a suspension. If Ivan Perisic, Alessandro Bastoni or Arturo Vidal pick up a yellow card, they will miss the match against Empoli on Friday 6 May. Simone Inzaghi also finds himself on that list.

As for Udinese, Jean-Victor Makengo is suspended.

Suspended Udinese: Makengo (1). Inter: Calhanoglu (1).

One booking from suspension Udinese: Deulofeu, Pussetto, Rodrigo Becao, Soppy, Udogie. Inter: Bastoni, Inzaghi (coach), Perisic, Vidal.