Gianluca Scamacca believes Saturday’s fixture with Italian club Udinese will greatly benefit West Ham United’s preparations for the restart of the 2022/23 season.
The centre-forward played against the Little Zebras four times over the previous two seasons, twice with Genoa and twice with Sassuolo, and scored in the latter’s 1-1 Serie A draw with the Friulians in May this year.
Scamacca returns to his homeland with the Hammers this weekend, when he and his teammates will take on an Udinese side which made an encouraging start to the campaign prior to the mid-season break for the FIFA World Cup finals.
Andrea Sottil’s side sit eighth in Serie A, having lost just three of their opening 12 fixtures, while West Ham will return to competitive action on Boxing Day seeking to improve their position in the Premier League.
In the meantime, the 23-year-old is relishing the opportunity to show his qualities in front of his fellow countrymen and the travelling Claret and Blue Army in a game that will be streamed live via West Ham’s Official YouTube channel, website and app.
“It’s good to play in Italy again and against a good team in Udinese which is playing well, so it should be a very good match,” said Scamacca, who has netted six times in 21 appearances since joining the Irons from Sassuolo in July.
“I think Udinese is one of the teams in Italy which play with a high intensity, like in the Premier League, so it will be a good test for us.
“I’ve played in this stadium before and it’s new and big, but I have not scored there before, so I hope to score there on Saturday!”
Kick-off against Udinese is at 3pm CET, which is 2pm back in England.
Following Saturday's trip to north-eastern Italy, before resuming the 2022/23 Premier League campaign with a trip to Arsenal on Boxing Day, the Irons’ will also travel to Fulham on Saturday 17 December.
