It is expected to be an uphill struggle for Empoli when they play host to Serie A favourites Napoli at Stadio Carlo Castellani in round 24's meeting on Saturday.
The Tuscany outfit's 1-1 draw with Fiorentina last weekend extended their month-long winless run, while Napoli secured a seventh straight league victory at Sassuolo last Friday before following that up with a 2-0 triumph in the Champions League at Eintracht Frankfurt in midweek.
Match preview
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A shock 1-0 win over Inter Milan in January bade well for Empoli, but Paolo Zanetti's side have relapsed into old habits since that victory.
The Azzurri have not won a game in Serie A since defeating the Nerazzurri last month, although they have fallen to just one loss in that time, with Jose Mourinho's Roma claiming a 2-0 triumph at the start of February.
Draws are the norm for the side from Florence, with no other top-flight team accruing more than Empoli's 10 in 2022-23.
The league's 12th-placed team may not let in a bucketload of goals — 29 goals conceded in Serie A is the second-meanest in the league's bottom half — but they have not scored near enough at the other end, finding the back of the net 22 times.
Only the league's bottom four have netted fewer than Zanetti's men, who would lean on their hard-to-breakdown rearguard and form at the Castellani against Luciano Spalletti's irrepressible outfit.
Unbeaten in five on their turf, picking up three wins in the ongoing sequence, the three clean sheets in their commendable run could make Napoli nervous.
Adding to the Partenopei's anxiety will be a recollection of events in the corresponding fixture last season, when Empoli roared back from two goals down with 10 minutes remaining to win 3-2. That said, a lot has changed since April 2022.
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Spalletti's men entered this season as one of many contenders in Serie A. What they have done in the 23 rounds since the league began has demonstrated their title credentials and then some.
The side from Naples have won 20 of their 23 games, scoring 56 times and letting in just 15. They have netted 12 more goals than the second-best top-scoring side Inter and conceded two fewer than Juventus.
Khvicha Kvaratskhelia and Victor Osimhen have had storming campaigns, respectively contributing to 19 and 21 goals in the Partenopei's push to secure their first Scudetto since 1990.
The Nigerian's strike in last week's 2-0 success over Sassuolo was his 18th in Serie A, five more than Lautaro Martinez in the race to be this season's Capocannoniere. He has netted in seven league games on the trot, and Tuesday's finish at Frankfurt was his 10th in 2023 in all competitions.
Even though Spalletti is about to take this iteration into the quarter-final of the Champions League for the first time in the club's history, reigning supreme domestically remains this side's primary target.
Observers thought they might slip up at Sassuolo last Friday, but the Napoli boss resisted the temptation to rest players against the Neroverdi, and they won 2-0 to maintain their 15-point lead at the top of the table.
The reverse fixture in Naples ended 2-0 in the Partenopei's favour, and a similar result in Empoli will be just what the doctor ordered, especially after European exertions.
Team News
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Fabiano Parisi served his one-match suspension in Empoli's draw at Fiorentina last weekend and should be reinstated at left-back.
Zanetti will be forced into two alterations in central midfield with yellow card accumulations leaving the Azzurri without Jean-Daniel Akpa Akpro and Filippo Bandinelli.
Mattia Destro has not played since November, and the centre-forward is still out through injury.
With Napoli set to play their third match in eight days, Spalletti may alter his lineup at the Castellani.
Mario Rui could be restored to the team, having been an unused substitute in the last two games at Sassuolo and Frankfurt, replacing Mathias Olivera at left-back.
Elif Elmas and Matteo Politano could replace Piotr Zielinski and Hirving Lozano, respectively.
Empoli possible starting lineup:
Vicario; Ebuehi, Ismajli, Luperto, Parisi; Henderson, Marin, Grassi; Baldanzi; Cambiaghi, Caputo
Napoli possible starting lineup:
Meret; Di Lorenzo, Rrahmani, Kim, Rui; Anguissa, Lobotka, Elmas; Politano, Osimhen, Kvaratskhelia
We say: Empoli 1-3 Napoli
Even though Napoli have kept four successive Serie A clean sheets on the road since last month's defeat at Inter, Empoli's inclination to score at the Castellani — the hosts have scored in nine of 11 home fixtures — should see that run halted on Saturday.
Be that as it may, the firepower of Spalletti's men and the momentum winning brings ought to produce an eighth successive league success.
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.
