Udinese and Hellas Verona are set to lock horns for the 42nd time in Serie A this Saturday. Previous encounters have yielded 12 Udinese victories, 13 for Verona and 16 draws, with the last eight league meetings perfectly even: two wins apiece and four draws.
In the last ten years, Udinese have kept eight clean sheets against Verona – more than against any other team – and are unbeaten at home in the last seven.
Kosta Runjaic's side go into this Matchday 29 fixture with 40 points on the board – a figure Udinese hadn't reached this early in the season since the 2012/13 campaign.
The team are currently on a six-game unbeaten run – their longest since going nine games without defeat under Andrea Sottil between August and October 2022.
Despite not scoring any headers in the last three outings, Udinese still have the league's third best record for headed goals, with nine (only Inter and Atalanta have more).
Verona meanwhile have managed the joint fewest headed goals in Serie A – just two this term (the same as Monza).
Both teams have scored 44% of their clear goal-scoring opportunities this season – a statistic bettered only by Napoli.
Udinese's last two goals have been scored by Florian Thauvin, who now has eight Serie goals to his name this term. The Frenchman hasn't been so prolific since the 2018/19 season, which was also the last time he scored in three consecutive games – something he could repeat against Hellas.
The captain's eight goals this year have been worth ten points for Udinese. The only player to make a more decisive contribution this season is his strike partner Lorenzo Lucca, who has earned 13 points with his ten goals.
The last time (and only time in the last decade) that two Udinese players both had eight or more goals at this stage of the season was in 2021/22 (Beto and Gerard Deulofeu).
Should they feature on Saturday, Sandi Lovric and Martin Payero will make their 100th and 50th appearances for Udinese, respectively.
There is just one player who could face his former employers at the weekend: Davide Faraoni made 22 total appearances for Udinese in the 2012/13 and 2016/17 seasons.
Three Udinese players have scored against Hellas before: Lucca (twice) and Kabasele were on target in the most recent meeting at Bluenergy Stadium (3-3 on 3 December 2023), while Jaka Bijol found the net in Verona on 3 October 2022.