On Monday evening, Udinese will be looking to secure a win in Cremona that has eluded them since 7 October 1990 and which has never been achieved in the Lombardy city in Serie A (four draws and one loss). This will be the eleventh meeting with Cremonese in the top flight of Italian football, with a record of three wins, six draws and one loss. The last away day in Cremona ended 0-0 in November 2022, while the last match played between the two teams finished in an 3-0 win for Udinese at Bluenergy Stadium in April 2023. If Udinese come out on top on Monday, it’ll be the first time that they’ve bagged two consecutive victories against Cremonese.
Kosta Runjaic and Davide Nicola will be meeting for the third time at Stadio Giovanni Zini, with the German winning both previous encounters (the two matches against Cagliari last season). Runjaic is entering his second consecutive season with at least eight points on matchday six. In the previous nine seasons only Andrea Sottil (2022/23) and Julio Velazquez (2018/19) had achieved this.
To date, Udinese have recorded two wins and one defeat away from home, worse only than Milan and Roma. They are also third in terms of aerial duels won (104), behind Parma and Pisa. With regard to expected goals, Udinese come in at seventh place, while Cremonese sit at the bottom of the ranking. Keinan Davis has scored 2.72 of these xG - only Moise Kean, Riccardo Orsolini and Gift Orban have produced more. Two Udinese lads are currently leading the way in terms of Serie A statistics: Arthur Atta continues to top the dribbling charts (16), while Oumar Solet is the player to have carried the ball the most metres (1591). The Frenchman also ranks second in most passes completed (357) after Luka Modric.
Monday evening will mark a milestone for Runjaic as he celebrates 50 games in charge of Udinese. The club could also reach an important milestone as a victory would bring them to 2300 total points in Serie A.
Four ex-Udinese men will be among the Cremonese ranks: Marco Silvestri (who played for Udinese from 2021-2024), Martin Payero (2023-2025), Giuseppe Pezzella (2017-2019), and coach Davide Nicola who led the Friulani for 15 games in the 2018/19 season.