Preview: Lazio vs. Udinese - prediction, team news, lineups

Lazio head into Thursday's encounter with Udinese looking to bounce back from suffering successive defeats in Serie A.

While the home side sit in eighth position in the standings, Udinese are down in 14th spot, still five points clear of the relegation zone.

Match preview

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In the hotly-contested race for the European places, it does not take much to fall slightly off the pace, and that is what Lazio have discovered over the past two matches.

Defeats to rivals Juventus and Napoli, the latter by a 4-0 scoreline, has resulted in Maurizio Sarri's team dropping down to eighth spot and with a poorer goal difference.

Victory on Thursday night will immediately lift the mood at Stadio Olimpico, but Sarri's men need to deliver something extra having only posted six wins from 14 outings this season.

On the plus side, they end the year with five successive encounters versus teams sitting in the bottom half of the standings, providing them with the perfect chance to establish a foothold in the top six.

I Biancocelesti also possess the second-best home record in the division, scoring a league joint-best of 18 goals.

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Having posted just one victory in 11 league matches, Luca Gotti is aware that there will come a time when he needs to deliver a sustained improvement.

Four points from a possible nine and a first clean sheet since September 12 has gone some way to achieving that, the shutout coming in a goalless draw at home to Genoa at the weekend.

While Udinese would have hoped for all three points against the 18th-placed team, it at least maintained a five-point advantage over their struggling opponents.

I Bianconeri have gone five away games without posting a win, their only success on their travels coming away at Spezia in their third outing of the season.

Team News

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Lazio will be forced into at least one alteration after Luiz Felipe picked up his fifth yellow card of the season on Sunday.

Patric is expected to deputise for the Brazilian in the middle of the defence, moving inside from right-back with Manuel Lazzari taking his spot in a wider position.

Lucas Leiva may come back into the team in place of Danilo Cataldi in midfield.

With Roberto Pereyra likely to miss out through injury, Ignacio Pussetto is expected to return to the Udinese XI.

While the rest of the team could stay the same, Samir and Walace are both one booking away from a suspension.

Lazio possible starting lineup:

Reina; Lazzari, Patric, Acerbi, Hysaj; Milinkovic-Savic, Leiva, Alberto; Anderson, Immobile, Pedro

Udinese possible starting lineup:

Silvestri; Becao, Nuytinck, Samir; Molina, Walace, Arslan, Udogie; Deulofeu, Pussetto; Beto

We say: Lazio 3-1 Udinese

At a time when Lazio have performed well at home, Udinese have been equally poor away. With that in mind, we can only back a comfortable victory for Sarri's men, one which will keep them in the mix for the European spots.