Udinese vs Lazio: Preview, team news, h2h as Super Eagles’ Okoye faces Dele-Bashiru

Two of the most impressive sides in the early Serie A 2026/27 season meet at the Dacia Arena on Monday evening, when an unbeaten Udinese welcome a Lazio team with a perfect record in the Italian top flight, Afrik-Foot reports.

The match had been billed as a Super Eagles showdown, but Fisayo Dele-Bashiru, the Lazio midfielder who represents Nigeria internationally, has been ruled out through injury. This leaves Maduka Okoye, the Super Eagles goalkeeper, as the sole Nigerian representative on a night that still carries enormous promise for football fans across the continent.

In Dele-Bashiru’ absence, Davide Frattesi has quickly become the story of Lazio’s season: the Italy international joined the Biancocelesti on loan from Inter Milan this summer and has already scored the winning goal in each of his first two Serie A appearances, earning instant cult status among the Olimpico faithful.

Match Preview: Udinese and Lazio both flying early

Kosta Runjaic’s side are doing it again – making an assertive start to a new campaign that has become almost a hallmark of his tenure in Friuli, now in its third season.

Udinese opened with a creditable 1-1 draw at home against big-spending Como before producing one of the sharper performances seen on Matchday two, defeating Monza 3-2 away from home with goals spread across three different players.

The Coppa Italia has added further momentum: after beating Padova 1-0 in the first round, they dispatched regional rivals Venezia 2-1 last Wednesday, with Ivorian striker Vakoun Bayo claiming a brace to book a last-16 tie against Atalanta.

For a third straight August, Runjaic’s men have gone unbeaten in Serie A – a sequence across the three summer spells that has returned three wins and three draws in total.

Udinese have also led the division for physical tenacity, winning 47 duels in the first two matchdays – more than any other club.

Lazio arrive with a different kind of momentum, even if Gennaro Gattuso’s debut match in charge of the club ended in humbling fashion: a 0-2 Coppa Italia defeat to Mantova before the league season had even started.

Since then, the new Lazio coach has overseen two controlled league victories – 1-0 away at Bologna and 1-0 at home against Genoa – to give them one of the division’s 100-per-cent record after two rounds.

Lazio kept a clean sheet in both games, and have not conceded a Serie A goal across the opening 180 minutes of the 2026/27 campaign – their last league concession coming in a home win over Pisa back in May 2026. Lazio have opened a season with two straight wins and a clean sheet in each just twice before: in 1974 and in the 2021/22 campaign.

Both clubs have eye-catching fixtures immediately ahead – Lazio host AC Milan on September 12 and Udinese travel to face Inter on September 14 – which adds an extra layer of consequence to whatever happens on Monday night.

Udinese vs Lazio head-to-head history

Across 53 Serie A meetings played in Udine, the historical record favours the visitors: Lazio have claimed 21 victories compared to 16 for Udinese, with the remaining 16 ending level.

Their most recent league win at the Dacia Arena came in 2023/24, a 2-1 success; Udinese’s last home victory against them came in 2024/25, also by a 2-1 scoreline. The long-range trend still leans Lazio’s way – they have lost just once in their last 13 top-flight visits to Udine, winning eight of those encounters.

Yet the overall picture is more balanced than that run suggests: Udinese have dropped only two of their last 10 league meetings with the Rome club across all venues.

Last season’s two fixtures were frenetic at both ends: the December 2025 clash at the Dacia Arena ended 1-1 after a very late equaliser, while the April 2026 return at the Stadio Olimpico finished 3-3 in equally breathless fashion.

Monday’s encounter also has a managerial dimension: it marks the first competitive meeting between Kosta Runjaic and Gennaro Gattuso in their dugout careers.

Team news: Injuries, doubts and predicted lineups

Udinese must once again plan without Nicolo Zaniolo, Matteo Palma, Giorgi Chakvetadze and the long-term absentee Alessandro Zanoli.

The welcome return of experienced defender Christian Kabasele from suspension strengthens Runjaic’s back three, and the attacking options remain plentiful despite the unavailability of Zaniolo.

Keinan Davis, last season’s top scorer, is expected to lead the line once more, with Hassane Kamara contributing from the left channel after scoring in each of Udinese’s first two league games this term.

Lazio’s selection is more constrained, particularly in midfield, where Nicolo Rovella, Fisayo Dele-Bashiru and Danilo Cataldi are all unavailable through injury. Defensive cover is also thinned, with Adam Marusic and Patric both absent from the back line.

The burden of creativity therefore falls heavily on Frattesi, with Boulaye Dia and Andrea Pinamonti competing for the centre-forward role; Mattia Zaccagni and Matteo Cancellieri provide the width.

Newly arrived attacker Albert Gudmundsson could offer an option off the bench as he builds his fitness, but Gattuso is unlikely to rush him into a starting role this soon.

With Dele-Bashiru sidelined, the anticipated Super Eagles duel has been postponed – though Okoye, the other Nigeria international, will still need to be at his sharpest to keep Frattesi and Zaccagni at bay.

Predicted XI

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The Managers: Runjaic vs Gattuso at the Dacia Arena

Kosta Runjaic has built his reputation the hard way, working his way through the lower tiers of German football before establishing himself as a serious force in Polish football with Pogon Szczecin and then Legia Warsaw, where he won the Polish Cup in 2022/23 and the Super Cup in 2023/24.

The 55-year-old, born in Vienna to Serbian parents, took charge of Udinese in June 2024 and has since developed a style based on physical aggression, collective work rate and genuine tactical discipline, which yielded a 10th-place finish last season.

Gennaro Gattuso arrives at this fixture with a far more prominent backstory, having spent 13 years at AC Milan as a player – winning two Serie A titles, two Champions League trophies and the 2006 World Cup with Italy in an iconic career as a combative central midfielder.

His managerial journey has been more varied: stints at Palermo, Pisa, Milan, Napoli – where he won the 2020 Coppa Italia – and subsequent spells at Valencia, Marseille and Hajduk Split preceded an ill-fated tenure as Italy national team manager.

Appointed to lead the Azzurri in June 2025, Gattuso won six of his seven qualifying matches before the campaign unravelled in the play-offs, where a 1-1 draw against Bosnia-Herzegovina ended in a penalty shoot-out defeat, sending Italy to the sidelines of the 2026 World Cup for a third consecutive tournament.

Lazio appointed the 48-year-old on June 23, 2026 to replace Maurizio Sarri following a ninth-place finish and a Coppa Italia final defeat to Inter Milan, and two wins from two in the league suggests the appointment has been a fast success.

Monday marks the first competitive meeting between the two men, and the contrast in both background and style is considerable.

Tactical Preview: How the two sides could match up

Runjaic lines his side up in a 3-4-2-1 system, relying on the wing-backs as key outlets in both attack and defence, with Hassane Kamara’ two goals from the left flank already demonstrating just how threatening that role can be in this setup.

The back three of Abankwah, Kabasele and Solet carry the defensive responsibility, with Oumar Solet recording 14 defensive recoveries in the first two matchdays – the third-highest figure in Serie A at that stage.

Ekkelenkamp and Gomez operate in the pockets between the midfield block and Davis, looking to receive between the lines and create opportunities in the half-spaces where Lazio’s centre-backs could be pulled.

Gattuso’ 4-3-3 is built around Frattesi as the most dynamic runner in the central trio, with Reda Belahyane anchoring behind him and Kenneth Taylor adding energy on the opposite side of the three.

Frattesi’ habit of arriving late into the box – already demonstrated twice this season to match-winning effect – could be the central threat in this contest, particularly if Udinese’s advancing wing-backs leave gaps in the central corridors for him to exploit.

Zaccagni and Cancellieri on the flanks will aim to pin back Vojvoda and Kamara when Lazio are in possession, looking to get in behind on transitions and prevent Udinese from pushing both wing-backs forward simultaneously.

Lazio’s midfield depth is a real concern for Gattuso here: with Rovella, Cataldi and Dele-Bashiru all out injured, Belahyane is operating alone as the holding presence, and Runjaic will be well aware that pressing high through Karlstrom and Piotrowski could overwhelm that defensive midfield cover and create second-ball situations for Davis.

Lazio’s propensity to foul – 37 conceded across the first two matchdays, second-most in the division – also means Udinese will have chances from dead-ball situations if Runjaic can find the right delivery into the box.

Udinese vs Lazio betting tips

Udinese vs Lazio Prediction: Our Final Score

Lazio have all the markers of a well-organised, purposeful side this season – clean sheets, last-minute winners, a clear tactical identity – and their record at the Dacia Arena over the past decade and a half remains the most compelling piece of evidence heading into this fixture.

Udinese will make it difficult, as they always do under Runjaic, and their wing-backs provide enough threat to suggest that Lazio’s unblemished defensive record is unlikely to survive a competitive home crowd and a hungry forward line.

Frattesi looks the most likely to decide this in Lazio’s favour once again, with Davis providing the best chance of a response for the home side.