Matchday 18 of Serie A brings us the meeting of Sampdoria and Udinese, scheduled for Saturday at 20:45 CET. After their match against Spezia, the Blucerchiati on 20 points, four ahead of the Friulani, who come into this fixture looking for their first win in over a month (3-2 in Torino on 12 December).

The statistical head-to-head for matchday 18 (made possible by the stats section on our website) pits Fabio Quagliarella against Kevin Lasagna.

The Sampdoria striker has taken to the field once more than his opponent (15 vs. 14) but has a much higher playing time (1,070 minutes vs. 832’) having been deployed twelve times as a starter compared to Lasagna’s nine.

So far Quagliarella's output has been better, as shown by the seven goals scored (one every 153 minutes) compared to two for Lasagna (one every 416 minutes). However, the pair are relatively on par with each other in terms of shots on target (13 for Quagliarella, eleven for Lasagna), shot accuracy (46.4% vs 45.8%) and chances created (seven each). The Sampdoria man falls victim more often to the offside trap (13 vs 6).

In terms of team play, Quagliarella has a higher number of passes completed (147 vs. 107), but Lasagna is the more accurate passer of the two, with a 74.3% completion rate (vs. 70.7%), and a 64.6% completion rate in the opposition half (vs. 61.8%).

Understandably not involved much in the defensive side of the game, both players have committed a similar number of fouls (16 by Quagliarella, 17 by Lasagna) and received one yellow card. Quagliarella has been harassed more by his opponents: he’s been fouled 16 times compared to just seven for Lasagna.