Udinese vs Cesena preview - Strama keen to keep calm

Udinese coach Andrea Stramaccioni is relishing the excitement in his team's camp but has urged his players to keep their feet firmly on the ground ahead of Sunday's home game against Cesena.

Stramaccioni's men beat Parma 4-2 on Monday for their third straight win to climb to third in the standings with 12 points from five games.

Udinese have lost just once this season, against Italian champions Juventus in their Serie A opener, while they hold a perfect record at home so far.

"We are very happy with what we are doing," the 38-year-old Stramaccioni said. "But we still need to collect 28 points in order to achieve our aim, which is to avoid the drop.

"We should not look at the standings because there is still a long way to go."

Stramaccioni took the reins of Udinese this summer after long-term boss Francesco Guidolin stepped down to take a supervisory role at the Friuli club.

"Everything has gone well so far but we have to continue to work and be humble," the former Inter Milan tactician said.

Rivals Cesena lost 3-0 to Juve before holding AC Milan to a 1-1 draw last time out to climb to 13th in the standings.

Coach Pierpaolo Bisoli was delighted with his team's display against the Rossoneri and has demanded more of the same this weekend at the Friuli stadium.

"I'm very happy with how my team responded after our defeat to Juve," he said. "We held a top team like Milan to a draw and this should be a warning to our future rivals that we will not give up without a fight."

The hosts will not have the team's top scorer Antonio Di Natale available this weekend.

The Udinese captain, who scored twice against Parma, has been granted leave of absence after his father passed away this week.

Cyril Thereau will lead Udinese's attack alongside Luis Muriel.