Milan seek historic fourth away win as Udinese face unwanted record

Milan travel to Udinese on Sunday aiming to extend a rare run against their opponents, while Ruben Amorim bids to keep his unbeaten start in the Italian top flight and move closer to a club landmark.

The Rossoneri have won their past three away league meetings with Udinese, scoring 10 goals and conceding two. A fourth successive victory would equal their only previous run of four consecutive away wins against this opponent, achieved between 1999 and 2001.

Milan have won five of the last eight league meetings between the sides, with Udinese winning three. None of those matches ended in a draw, including Udinese’s 3-0 victory in the most recent fixture on 11 April.

The Rossoneri have scored 24 goals across their past 13 Serie A matches against Udinese, an average of 1.8 per game, but failed to score in that latest meeting. Udinese have not kept consecutive clean sheets against Milan since 1993-94, when both matches finished 0-0.

Udinese arrive in poor form, having lost their past five Serie A games. They have conceded 13 goals and scored five during that sequence. Their last longer losing run came between February and April 2018, when they suffered 11 successive defeats under Massimo Oddo.

They have also lost five of their seven league matches this season, alongside one win and one draw. Udinese have had more defeats after their opening eight matches only three times in their history: six in 1960-61, seven in 1961-62 and six in 2017-18.

Milan, meanwhile, have drawn each of their past three away league matches. Their last run of four successive away draws came between April and May 2017 under Vincenzo Montella.

Amorim is the third Milan manager to remain unbeaten in his first seven Serie A matches. Hector Puricelli went unbeaten through his opening eight games in 1955, while Luis Carniglia avoided defeat in his first 13 matches in 1963.

Milan can also complete the opening eight matches of a Serie A season without defeat for only the third time in the past 20 seasons, after doing so in 2020-21 and 2021-22.

Udinese’s second-half numbers are another concern. Their goal difference after half-time is minus eight, level with Borussia Monchengladbach and bettered only by Troyes and Racing Santander among clubs in Europe’s ‘big five’ leagues this season. Udinese have scored twice after the interval and conceded 10.

Jurgen Ekkelenkamp has scored and assisted in the same Serie A match only once, doing so against Milan on 11 April. No Udinese player has scored at home in the league this season, although Ekkelenkamp ranks second among midfielders for shots, with 20, behind Nico Paz’s 35.

Adrien Rabiot has contributed at least one goal or assist in each of his past four Serie A appearances, registering three goals and two assists.

No Milan midfielder has achieved that in five consecutive league matches since Opta began recording the data in 2004-05, with the only previous examples being Hakan Calhanoglu in July 2020 and Kaka in October 2004 and May 2008.