Serie A leaders Napoli will look to continue their impressive run in the league this Tuesday when they welcome Empoli to Naples for the 14th-round game of the 2022/23 Serie A season.
Venue: Stadio Diego Armando Maradona (Naples)
Key Statistics
Napoli are unbeaten in their last 17 Serie A games (W15, D2).
They have won their last nine Serie A games, scoring 22 goals and conceding eight times.
The hosts have scored 3+ goals in their last five games at home in all competitions.
Empoli have scored a joint-second league-low ten goals this term.
They have won just four of their last 17 league games (D6, L7).
The visitors have only one defeat across their last five away top-flight matches (W1, D3).
Head to head
Empoli have won the last three Serie A games between both sides. But Napoli have seven wins in 19 games between both sides. Empoli, impressively, have eight wins.
Latest performances in all competitions
Napoli: W-L-W-W-W
Empoli: W-L-L-W-N
Napoli
Napoli bounced back from their first loss of the season against Liverpool in the UEFA Champions League last weekend when they beat title rivals Atalanta away at the Gewiss Stadium.
Goals from the in-form Victor Osimhen and Elif Elmas gave Luciano Spalletti’s side a 2-1 win over Atalanta, who took the lead through Ademola Lookman early on.
The result was their ninth consecutive win in the league and extended their unbeaten run in the league to 17 games (W15, D22). However, it was marred by an injury to talismanic attacker Khvicha Kvaratskhelia, who has been instrumental to Napoli’s attacking output this season.
While Spalletti admitted that his Napoli side who he says play attacking football that requires “taking risks” are Scudetto contenders, the Italian coach will hope that they can keep their foot on the ground as they attempt to win their first SA title since the times of Diego Armando Maradona.
With each of Napoli’s last five such outings witnessing them score 3+ goals whilst eventually winning by at least two goals on four of those occasions, we might see another straightforward day on the Italian coast when Empoli visit.
Possible Napoli starting line-up
Alex Meret; Giovanni Di Lorenzo, Min-Jae Kim, Juan Jesus, Mario Rui; Andre Zambo Anguissa, Stanislav Lobotka, Piotr Zielinski; Hirving Lozano, Victor Osimhen, Giacomo Raspadori.
Injured: Amir Rrahmani
Doubtful: Khvicha Kvaratskhelia
Suspended: None
Empoli
Empoli will look to make it four straight wins against Napoli when they travel to Italy’s south coast.
The visitors beat Napoli home and away last season, and also defeated the Serie A leaders two seasons ago, albeit at home.
However, since coming back from two goals down to win 3-2 in this stadium last April, the Tuscany-based visitors have picked up only four Serie A wins since then (D6, L7) and have scored a joint-second league-low ten goals this term.
However, there’s some encouragement in the fact two of those four wins have come in their last four league outings (L2) against Monza (1-0) and Sassuolo (1-0) last weekend. The win at the weekend moved Empoli closer to mid-table, eight points ahead of Cremonese in 18th place.
So whilst this might seem like David versus Goliath, Empoli could be inspired by their run of only one defeat across their last five away top-flight matches (W1, D3) when they arrive on Italy’s south coast.
Possible Empoli starting line-up
Guglielmo Vicario; Tyronne Ebuehi, Ardian Ismajili, Sebastiano Luperto; Fabiano Parisi, Liam Henderson, Razvan Marin, Filippo Bandinelli; Tommaso Baldanzi; Martin Satriano, Sam Lammers.
Injured: Mattia Destro, Koni De Winter
Doubtful: Lorenzo Tonelli, Alberto Grassi
Suspended: None
Prediction
Napoli 3-0 Empoli
