Italy players in Premier League: Tonali ‘influential’, advice for Udogie

Sandro Tonali started on the bench, but made a significant impact when he came on as Newcastle rose to a 3-1 victory away against high-flying Nottingham Forest at the weekend.

Here is how the Italy internationals in the Premier League got on this weekend.

Tonali impresses in Newcastle victory 

Tonali started on the bench for the second Premier League match in a row, but he emerged as a second-half substitute while Newcastle were level at 1-1 away at Nottingham Forest, and ended his shift on the winning side in an eventual 3-1 result.

The Italy international was involved in the build-up to Joelinton’s goal to make it 2-1, before registering an assist for Harvey Barnes for Newcastle’s third, carrying the ball through most of the opposition’s half before laying off to his teammate to apply the final touches.

Though he only came on after 68 minutes, Tonali was given a rating of 8/10 by the local press for his showing at the City Ground.

Vicario and Udogie on worrying form at Tottenham 

Guglielmo Vicario and Destiny Udogie started as usual in Tottenham’s 2-1 loss at home to Ipswich Town. It was the visitor’s first Premier League win in over 20 years, and Tottenham’s second loss this week after a 3-2 defeat by Galatasaray in the Europa League.

Vicario couldn’t have done much to prevent Ipswich’s first goal, an improvised bicycle kick into the far corner from Sammie Szmodics, but there were suggestions that he could have done slightly better in preventing the second, when he got a hand to Szmodics’s low cross, but was only able to steer it into the six-yard box.

Udogie, meanwhile, had a relatively inoffensive game at left-back, but Football London have suggested that he needs to be a bit more decisive and aggressive in tackles, as he does tend to hesitate around some challenges.

How the other Italy internationals got on

Emerson Palmieri was the only other Italy international involved in Premier League action this weekend, but it wasn’t a blockbuster by any means. West Ham’s 0-0 draw away at home to Everton was dubbed one of the worst games of the season in terms of its quality.

Caleb Okoli was an unused substitute as Leicester City fell to a 3-0 defeat away against Manchester United at Old Trafford.

It was also the same case for Jorginho on the Arsenal bench in their 0-0 draw against Chelsea. Cesare Casadei has not made Enzo Maresca’s matchday squad since Chelsea’s 1-0 victory against Bournemouth in mid-September.

Riccardo Calafiori at Arsenal and Federico Chiesa at Liverpool remain out injured. Neither have been included in Luciano Spalletti’s latest Italy national team squad.