After failing to capitalise on Dusan Vlahovic’s first-minute strike at Estadio de la Ceramica, Massimiliano Allegri’s men travel to Tuscany winless in three consecutive outings but also do so unbeaten in seven consecutive Serie A away matches.
Empoli
Despite being winless in ten matches since mid-December, Empoli sit just two points adrift of the top half in Serie A – but that isn’t the only reward on offer. A piece of history potentially awaits the class of 2021/22, as a win would see Empoli complete a league double over Juventus for the very first time in this fixture’s 36-year history. The reverse fixture (1-0) also set Empoli up to shut Juventus out in both league H2Hs of a season, which is something they last did back in 1998/99. That feat seems improbable here though, given that Empoli have conceded first in ten of their 13 home league outings so far.
Juventus
Injury-depleted Juventus lost another two players in their midweek 1-1 draw against Villarreal, putting their current fourth-placed standing in fresh jeopardy. After failing to capitalise on Dusan Vlahovic’s first-minute strike at Estadio de la Ceramica, Massimiliano Allegri’s men travel to Tuscany winless in three consecutive outings but also do so unbeaten in seven consecutive Serie A away matches. The flow of more recent H2H clashes at Empoli might dilute some Juventus fans’ expectations, given that the ‘Bianconeri’ have opened the scoring in just two of the last six competitive meetings here. There is a clear incentive for Juventus to go against that trend though, given their record when netting first in away league matches this term.
With nine goals to his name, Empoli’s Andrea Pinamonti has already achieved his best-ever Serie A season, with four of the last six strikes arriving beyond the 75th minute. Empoli may fear Moise Kean, who scored the winner in Juventus’ last H2H win (1-0) and each of his four club strikes this season have been game openers too. Juventus have kept a first-half clean sheet in six of their last seven Serie A away matches.