Empoli vs Juventus

Stadio Carlo Castellani hosts a revenge-posied Serie A showdown between Empoli and Juventus.

It’s been a disastrous start to the season for perennial bottom-half strugglers Empoli as they come into round three as the only pointless side in Serie A, not to mention scoreless. After a frustrating 1-0 home loss to Hellas Verona on day one, ‘Gli Azzurri’ conceded on either side of halftime in a 2-0 defeat at Monza last weekend. Like in 2022/23, Paolo Zanetti’s men will hope to get off the mark on matchday three, hoping a memorable 4-1 win in this corresponding fixture last term could inspire a solid performance. Empoli can draw further confidence from scoring 2+ goals in back-to-back Serie A meetings with Juventus at Carlo Castellani (W1, L1). But they should approach this encounter with cautious optimism, knowing they’ve conceded at least twice in five of their last six top-flight H2Hs at home.

Juventus’ free-scoring form in Tuscany may lead Massimiliano Allegri to believe his side could be in pole position to bounce back from last weekend’s dreadful 1-1 home draw against Bologna. ‘I Bianconeri’ opened their 2023/24 campaign with a thumping 3-0 win at Udinese, making it three league wins ‘to nil’ in their last four away matches (L1). Two of those three victories yielded a goalless halftime score, suggesting patience could be a decisive factor if Juventus are to avenge last season’s humiliation. But the Turin heavyweights would be wise not to tuck themselves into a false sense of security, considering they had been winless on five competitive travels beforehand (D2, L3), netting under 1.5 goals on each occasion.