Four points separate Genoa and Empoli in the Serie A table heading into Saturday's gameweek 14 encounter at Stadio Luigi Ferraris.
The league returnees are only four points clear of the 18th-placed visitors and hope for a victory to give themselves some breathing space.
Match preview
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Genoa's wretched away record continued last weekend when a 2-1 defeat at Frosinone saw Alberto Gilardino's men fall to their third road loss in succession.
They return to their comfort zone seeking a return to winning ways, and recent results at the Marassi give reason for optimism on Saturday.
With consecutive wins secured — 1-0 triumphs over Salernitana and Hellas Verona — the Rossoblu aim for a third straight home victory to open up a seven-point lead over this weekend's visitors occupying 18th place.
Having just returned to the top division after one year away, Gilardino's men hope to avoid immediate relegation from the competition, and securing maximum points in front of their supporters could be pivotal to their prospects.
Genoa have lost only once in the last five at home, claiming three wins, and making that four wins from seven will be just what the doctor ordered.
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Strikingly, the Rossoblu welcome a struggling side that fare better on their travels than they do in front of their fans, picking up two wins in three road games.
The Azzurri are two months into Aurelio Andreazzoli's tenure after replacing Paolo Zanetti, and all three victories secured this term have come since the personnel change in the dugout.
However, three losses in Empoli's recent four games (one win) points to another slump in results, even if Andreazzoli could put the latest defeat by Sassuolo down to bad luck.
They could not hold on after levelling in the 86th minute, with Domenico Berardi netting a winner in stoppage time to hand the Blues their ninth loss in 13 games — no club has been beaten more times.
It was disappointing for Empoli to lose in that manner, having netted a late winning goal at Napoli in gameweek 12, but they hope for better fortunes this weekend.
Team News
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Gilardino has to make do without several injured players, with Kevin Strootman's hamstring injury expected to keep him out until the New Year, while Mateo Retegui is not anticipated to start due to a knee issue.
Mattia Bani, Caleb Ekuban and Albert Gudmundsson are slowly nearing returns to the side, but Filip Jagiello could return to the Genoa squad this weekend.
For Empoli, they are expected to have Tommaso Baldanzi until the first week in December at least, thus ruling out the 20-year-old this weekend.
Giuseppe Pezzella is also missing for the away side with a back injury, but no timescale has been placed on his return.
Genoa possible starting lineup:
Martinez; Winter, Dragusin, Vasquez; Sabelli, Frendrup, Badelj, Thorsby, Haps; Malinovskyi, Puscas
Empoli possible starting lineup:
Berisha; Bereszynski, Ismajli, Luperto, Cacace; Fazzini, Ranocchia, Maleh; Cambiaghi, Caputo, Cancellieri
We say: Genoa 1-0 Empoli
Saturday's game may be low-scoring, and Genoa could secure their third straight 1-0 victory on home turf at Empoli's expense.
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.
