Venezia vs Empoli

The two teams last saw action in December 2024, both went down in defeat. Venezia and Empoli will be looking for a better beginning of year matches when they play their opening fixtures of the new year at Stadio Pier Luigi Penzo.

In fact, the Lagunari felt a chronic season-long struggle for survival all this while, just as their Tuscan counterparts slid closer to the Serie A relegation precincts in December.

Filip Stankovic denied Romelu Lukaku from the spot and made several other good saves but Venezia faded out to a 1-0 loss in their first game after the Christmas break last weekend.

Napoli proved their worth in the dying embers of the match to deny the Venetian club of their first string of three consecutive league fixtures and effectively leaving Eusebio Di Francesco’s men behind in the relegation ladder as the year turned in January.

Nonetheless, there have been clear signs of improvement from last term's Serie B playoff winners: Following this sequence of 2-2 in the first two encounters of December, they defeated another team battling at the bottom of the table when they thrashed Cagliari on their last match at Stadio Penzo.

Primarily operating in Italy’s second and third tiers for the last 20 years the Lagunari did not register successive home victories in Serie A since January 2000 when Empoli had the services of currently national team and Opolis manager Luciano Spalletti.

In the hope of repeating last season’s opening match victory against Sampdoria in the second division by 5-3, Venezia will face Empoli for only the fifth time in the top division but remains unbeaten.

More to the point, Empoli are determined to snap out of that funk - from having suffered four straight games against Roma in Serie A without a victory - and get a promising season back on track in the process.

Their third consecutive defeat saw Sampdoria beaten 2-1 by Genoa at the Stadio Carlo Castellani last week and the team has since plummeted to the 12th place, only five points away from the relegation zone.

Even with a strong start to the 2024–25 season, which saw a team that just made it previous season briefly climb into the top eight, the Azzurri's home record has been rather bad, but their away record is much better.

Prior to a recent slump, which was mostly brought on by the quality of opponents they faced, Empoli had only lost one of six games when traveling.

Roberto D'Aversa's Coppa Italia quarter-finalists may still be confident about leaving Venice with all the points on Saturday, even though they lost to AC Milan at San Siro and Atalanta BC in Bergamo.

Therefore, Eusebio Di Francesco might think about starting with the same lineup, although there is fierce battle for Franco Carboni's spot on the left flank, and Joel Pohjanpalo, the top scorer in Serie B last season, might replace John Yeboah up front.

Gaetano Oristanio, who has contributed to two goals in his last two games at Stadio Penzo, is expected to link up with the team's lone forward.

Sebastiano Esposito of Empoli is the youngest player to reach five Serie A goals this season, despite missing a vital penalty last week. The Inter Milan loanee has scored five of his six goals away from home, including three in the past two.

He ought to be Lorenzo Colombo's attacking partner for the Azzurri, although it's unclear if Jacopo Fazzini, another highly regarded young forward, will play a part given rumors of a move to Lazio during the winter transfer window.