Editor's Note: This piece filed last week by Eric Giardini. The editors at TSG idiotically missed it floating in inbox ether...

Pirlo, the LL Cool J of Serie A...Reader's choice: "Don't Call It Comeback" or "Doing it and doing it and doing it...well."

If there is any weekend to pick-up your Serie A match watching, this is the one.

Another week and another win, as Juventus roll through Novara to keep their unbeaten streak intact. It was always going to be a tall task for Novara as they entered the Juventus stadium and the home team was unfortunate to not score more. Although the visitors did have a few chances, this match was all Juve.

Dalle ore 22 e 30 di sabato 3 dicembre 2011, l'Udinese, ha tutto il diritto di sognare. I ragazzi di Guidolin hanno battuto l'Inter a San Siro e, con il Milan, sono in cima alla classifica di Serie A a quota 27. Bravo dunque a Francesco Guidolin che non mette più la sua umilt nelContinua a leggere .

It will be hard to see Inter Milan pick themselves up from there latest setback after going down 1-0 to Udinese yesterday in a result that leaves them in 15th place on the Serie A table with 2/3 of the season left to play.

Currently 13 points off the pace set by leaders and city rivals Milan, Inter need to start wining if they are too force their way into the top half of the table.

Oh Udinese, what happened to you in Thursday's Europa League match against Atlético? The zebrette won the first leg, 2-0, but on their visit to Madrid were hammered 4-0. But there's not really that much you can take away from an Udinese loss in Europe's lesser tournament. Francesco Guidolin certainly didn't field a full-strength squad, at least not from the start, leaving out Mauricio Isla,.

The Italian Serie A since yesterday has an unexpected leader: Udinese Calcio. After the amazing 4th place of the last year Francesco Guidolin's team is now at the top of the league despite the selling of many foundamental players during the last summer market.

Players like Gokhan Inler, Alexis Sanchez and Cristian Zapata have been sold for more than £ 60 millions and replaced with less expensive players such as Gabriel Torje ( £ 5 millions from Dinamo Bucaresti) and Danilo Larangeira (form Palmeiras).

Tonight Milan will host high-flying Udinese and nothing less than three points in this match will do. The Champions have started their title defence in dismal fashion. They were forced to come back from 2-0 down against Lazio in the opening round while on Sunday they were schooled by an impressive Napoli, who made a [.

We reach the end of the road in our Serie A club previews for 2011-2012 with Udinese Calcio. Not as flash as big brother Juventus, our northerners from the Friuli–Venezia Giulia region do have an eye for young talent. But as Serie A Weekly writer Lorenzo Vicini points out, shame they couldn't keep at least one of their major transfers out this summer for Champions League competition,.

Team news, facts and figures ahead of the Champions League play-off first leg between Arsenal and Udinese at Emirates Stadium.

TEAM NEWS

Arsenal will be without suspended duo Samir Nasri and Robin van Persie. Nasri would not have been expected to play as he moves closer to a move away from the Emirates, whileCesc Fabregas has finally completed his protracted transfer to Barcelona.

Depending on the Moroccan

Arsenal play again tonight, signs that football is well and truly back. While we are only really at the beginning of the season, games are coming thick and fast. Champions League is on the menu for tonight albeit the play-off for the group stage proper. Of course, we could've avoided this fixture had we not stumbled towards the tail end of last season.

Still hanging with the uncertainties regarding the future of their two important players, Cesc Fabregas and Samir Nasri, a pretty tricky tie awaits Arsenal on their bid to enter the Champions League group stage as according to the latest drawing, the Gunners are being matched up against Udinese.

It's the time of year again, and as I count down the days (38) until the Serie A season starts, we have to entertain ourselves with pre-season friendlies. Meaningless games where showboating is not encouraged and where provincial sides lose by double figures. So I thought I would do a round-up:

Inter flew out to Germany to play Galatasaray in a match that saw Luca Castellazzi stretchered-off with a head injury.

After a brilliant season last year, Francesco Guidolin steered Udinese to 4th place and a place in the Champions league qualifying stage, with this a lot is expected in the coming term. With all the success, vultures have swarmed Udine and are looking at their best players. The very talented forward Alexis Sanchez is turning heads with both Manchester United and Manchester City interested, along.

Francesco Guidolin has finally taken a side into the preliminary round thanks to Udinese's hard-fought draw against Milan.
Udinese reach foothills of the Champions League the hard way.

While the Serie A has lost its next season fourth Champions League spot to the German Bundesliga, next season will be the last one in which we'll have the chance to see four Italian teams in Europe's top competition. Udinese have made it to the Serie A's fourth Champions League spot, just edging ahead of Lazio thanks to a superior goal difference.

ROME, Italy — Udinese qualified for the Champions League for only the second time in their history after a 0-0 draw at home to AC Milan ensured they took fourth place in Serie A. Lazio missed out on Europe's premier club competition on goal difference despite their 4-2 win at Lecce. And Roma qualified for [.

Udinese currently occupy the fourth position in Serie A, leading challengers Roma, by two points. If they stay in this position, they'll qualify for next season's Champion's League; albeit in the preliminary qualifying round. This would be a remarkable success for a team, who are not regular features on Europe's grandest stage.

In a weekend where Bari were officially relegated, Milan took a massive step towards the title, and Sampdoria , the race for fourth truly stood out as one area of Serie A which is somehow, improbably, still open.

Three talking points about the matchday, which did much to shape the table in some areas and completely opened it in others:

1.

Number 88 (Gokhan Inler) scored a spectacular goal but
did not celebrate... Why?
Udinese has had a truly fantastic season in the Serie A. While their start was terrible, losing their first four games in the league, they eventually figured out how to play a wonderful and winning way. While there are players which make the team shine, their success must be attributed to their coach Francesco Guidolin.

Number 88 (Gokhan Inler) scored a spectacular goal but
did not celebrate... Why?
Udinese has had a truly fantastic season in the Serie A. While their start was terrible, losing their first four games in the league, they eventually figured out how to play a wonderful and winning way. While there are players which make the team shine, their success must be attributed to their coach Francesco Guidolin.

Serie A side Udinese are enjoying one of their best ever seasons in Italy. Fourth in the table, only four points from 2nd-placed Inter Milan, it comes as no surprise than many of Francesco Guidolin's ...

The Winners Udinese have won again, which is hardly surprising from the team that has taken sixteen points out of the last eighteen. Fifteenth-placed Catania fell away to Francesco Guidolin's side, who temporarily moved to third before Napoli won the late game in Serie A. Gokhan Inler netted early in the side before captain Antonio Di Natale added yet another goal to his tally off a rigore,.

While Serie A fans have been aware of the talents of Udinese's Alexis Sanchez for some time now, it can't be long before he becomes a household name a la Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi. Another mesmeric strike from the Chilean at the weekend and two assists for striker partner Antonio Di Natale make his performance in the 4-0 drubbing of Cagliari just the latest in a string of outstanding performances for the Bianconeri, who are sitting in fourth place and have a good chance to qualify for the Champions League for the first time in six seasons.

Francesco Guidolin's Udinese drew 4-4 against AC Milan at San Siro two weeks ago, and scored four more last weekend away to Genoa, winning 4-2. The most in-form side in Serie A did it again this past weekend, halting the instant improvement of current champions Inter winning 3-1 in a fast paced match.

When Francesco Guidolin left Parma to manage Udinese, I was disappointed. Guidolin had united a set of strong individuals, managing Parma all the way up to eighth in the table last season. Udinese finished 15th this past season, yet Guidolin saw something in the club and decided to join them.

When Francesco Guidolin left Parma to manage Udinese, I was disappointed. Guidolin had united a set of strong individuals, managing Parma all the way up to eighth in the table last season. Udinese finished 15th this past season, yet Guidolin saw something in the club and decided to join them.