Looking to continue their unbeaten start to the new season, Empoli and Juventus face off at the Stadio Castellani tomorrow.
New manager Thiago Motta has ushered in a proactive style in Juventus’ gameplay and has started their season in a turnaround from the last campaign. Despite a goalless draw with Roma before heading to the international break, the Bianconeri could keep three clean sheets from the three played this season.
It has been a tremendous start to the new season for Juventus as they have netted six times across their first two games to shoot themselves up top to share the league leader spot with defending champions Inter. The Old Lady will hope to secure the three points tomorrow as they need the positive momentum ahead of their return to the Champions League next week.
Juventus have a statistical advantage as they have faced the fewest (two) shots on target in Europe till now while recording the highest pass percentage rate (90%).
Meanwhile, Empoli have come out as the surprise package early on in the campaign after successfully avoiding a defeat in their first three outings.
The Tuscan outfit enjoyed a thumping victory over Roma last month when goals from Emmanuel Gyasi and Lorenzo Colombo cancelled out Eldor Shomurodov’s 80th-minute consolation to collect the three points from the Stadio Olimpico.
New boss Roberto D’Aversa has been absent from the touchline due to a ban for a headbutting incident during his time with Lecce. However, he is instructing his team well in the training ground to grind out points from the initial stage of the season to avoid a late relegation battle.
Results from their last five matches across all competitions
Empoli:
D W D W L
Juventus:
D W W L D
Team News
Khephren Thuram and Timothy Weah are set to be back in contention for selection after missing out on a few matches through injuries.
Sergio Conceicao is out with a muscular issue while new signing Teun Koopmeiners might start the game.
Samuel Mbangula is expected to get minutes after a wonderful start to the season.
As for Empoli, Samuele Perisan, Szymon Zurkowski and Tyronne Ebuehi are ruled out of the match.
New arrival Mattia De Sciglio could make his debut against his former club.
Predicted XIs
Empoli (3-4-2-1): Vasquez; De Sciglio, Ismajli, Viti; Gyasi, Henderson, Grassi, Pezzella; Solbakken, Esposito; Colombo
Juventus (4-2-3-1): Di Gregorio; Savona, Gatti, Bremer, Cabal; Locatelli, Fagioli; Cambiaso, Koopmeiners, Yildiz; Vlahovic
Trambak Bhattacherjee | GIFN
