Sampdoria vs Udinese preview - Guidolin looking to bounce back

Udinese will be looking to build on last week's triumph over Inter Milan when they meet Sampdoria in Genoa on Monday.

The Friuli outfit stunned Inter 1-0 on Thursday to progress to the quarter-finals of the Coppa Italia.

The result allowed Francesco Guidolin's men to immediately bounce back from last weekend's 3-1 home loss to Hellas Verona.

"My players did a fantastic job, especially in the first half," Guidolin said. "We deserved to go through.

"We really needed this win because we went into the game having endured a painful home defeat to Verona.

"Now this victory should be a launchpad to get our season on track. We need to recover our energy and focus on taking three points at Sampdoria on Monday.

"The team reacted in a convincing manner against Inter and they will have to do so again in order for us to climb up in the Serie A standings."

Udinese are in 13th place, six points clear of the drop zone.

Samp, who are one place and two points adrift of Udinese, expect to put a disappointing week behind them.

Monday's 2-0 defeat at Napoli was coach Sinisa Mihajlovic's first loss since taking over in November.

They followed that result with Thursday's 1-0 loss at Roma in the Coppa Italia last 16.

"We are disappointed to leave the competition," Mihajlovic said. "But we did our best.

"I left out most of our regular players because our priority is to defend our Serie A status this season.

"In any case, the team did well and we had our chances at the Stadio Olimpico against a strong Roma."

The hosts will be without midfielder Pedro Obiang, who serves a one-match ban.

Udinese captain Antonio Di Natale will be hoping to end his goalscoring drought, with the Italian veteran striker having failed to find the back of the net since October 30.