Sunday's Serie A and Ligue 1 predictions and free football tips

Best bets

Bologna to beat Udinese OneFootball, 5.30pm, Sunday
1pt 19-20 Coral, Hills

Nantes draw no bet vs Toulouse, 4pm
1pt 13-8 bet365, BoyleSports, Hills

Sunday European football predictions

Bologna defied expectations to finish fifth in Serie A last season and, despite an enforced makeover during the summer, they can begin the 2024-25 season with a win over Udinese.

Key players Riccardo Calafiori and Joshua Zirkzee departed Bologna for the Premier League this summer, while manager Thiago Motta was rewarded for his efforts with a move to Juventus.

But his replacement Vincenzo Italiano is a man with plenty of Serie A experience and the squad has been bulked out with the addition of Remo Freuler, Nicolo Cambiaghi and Thijs Dallinga among others.

Involvement in this season's Champions League could well take its toll on the team but in the opening weeks of the Serie A season they will be unaffected and they look well-placed to win Sunday's battle.

Bologna were especially strong at home last term, posting 12 wins in 19 matches, and they finished 31 points better off than Udinese last campaign, so they are worth backing to get off to a winning start.

Toulouse finished ten points better off than Nantes in Ligue 1 last season but that gap could well narrow this term.

It has been a testing summer for Toulouse, who will start the new season without last season's top scorer, Bologna-bound Dallinga, while young defender Christian Mawissa has moved on to Monaco.

And while the club went on to finish 11th in Ligue 1 last term, they were patchy and won just two of their first 17 league contests of the season.

The loss of Dallinga could make for another slow start and it is worth noting that Toulouse collected just 16 points from 17 home fixtures in Ligue 1 last season.

Nantes were decent travellers in 2023-24, picking up six of their nine league wins on the road, so they look a decent pick in the draw-no-bet market.

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