This Monday’s Serie A match sees Como make the trip to face Empoli at the Stadio Carlo Castellani. With both sides within three places of each other, this match could have serious implications going forward.
Both sides have been struggling heading into the 11th game of the season. One side has had a nightmare in trying to score goals but have been amazing defensively, and the other side have been a shambles in defence so early in the campaign.
Both sides have injuries and suspensions in key areas so each manager will have a hard time choosing their starting 11s but it is Como who on paper have the better chance with a smaller injury list.
Predicted Line-Up: Devis Vásquez; Mattia Viti, Ardian Ismajli (c), Mattia De Sciglio; Liberato Cacace, Youssef Maleh, Tino Anjorin, Emmanuel Gyasi; Jacopo Fazzini, Ola Solbakken; Lorenzo Colombo
Improving on last year’s 17th place finish, Empoli are currently standing in 12th place in the Serie A standings after 10 games. Two wins and five losses and three draws leaves them with 11 points, only three points behind eighth placed AC Milan. Empoli have only conceded nine goals so far, the lowest in the Serie A but they have been poor at finding the back of the net, only scoring on seven occasions.
Azzurri Empolesi are missing some very key players for them. Centre backs Saba Goglichidze and Saba Sazonov will not partake in this match. Goglichidze is suspended for this match after receiving a red card in his last match against Inter Milan and Sazonov has a cruciate ligament injury that will see him out for the rest of Empoli’s games this season.
Predicted Line-Up: Emil Audero; Alberto Moreno, Marc-Oliver Kempf, Alberto Dossena, Edoardo Goldaniga; Yannik Engelhardt, Luca Mazzitelli; Alieu Fadera, Nico Paz, Gabriel Strefezza; Patrick Cutrone
Como have been a team on the up the last couple of years. In the past five seasons they have gone from the third tier in Italian football all the way to the topflight. Como currently stand in 15th after 10 games. Two wins, five losses and three draws has left them with nine points. Considering there is only a two point gap to 12th placed Empoli, that will be on the forefront of the minds for all the Como players. They are struggling to keep goals out the back of their net though, conceding 21 goals in 10 games and not keeping a clean sheet in any of the Serie A games so far this season.
Similar to Empoli, I Biancoblù are also missing some very key players for them. Midfielder Matthias Braunöder must serve his suspension for the red card he received in Como’s 1-5 loss to Lazio on Thursday. Loanees Máximo Perrone and Ignace Van der Brempt are also expected to be unavailable for this match via muscle injury.
There have been 26 matches where these two teams have faced each other throughout history.
Como come into this match holding an advantage over Empoli as they have come out victors on 11 occasions, four more times than Empoli’s seven wins in this fixture. A draw has happened eight times out of the 26 games, leaving Como with a 42.3% win percentage.
The last time these sides faced off against each other was in the 2002/03 Serie A season so unfortunately those result won’t given any indication on who might come out on top this Monday.
Empoli have been poor when playing at home, the last five home games has seen them not score in them. They always play defensively and with control but at the moment they seem to play offensively and take risks. That will work in Como’s favour.
For that reason, our betting experts have gone with a Como To Win + Under 2.5 Goals as our best value tip for this game.
Odds of 4/1 mean that a £10 bet has the potential to return up to £50 in this match.
(odds subject to change)
Empoli 0-1 Como
We can see Empoli’s home goal drought continue on into this game with Cesc Fabregas’ men sneaking in a winner in a counter attack after an Empoli mistake.
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