Overview
Empoli lost 1-2 to Genoa at home in the last round. That was Empoli's third consecutive loss in Serie A this year. In the last 7 rounds, they also only had 1 victory.
A recent string of poor form has seen Empoli drop to 12th place, just five points above the relegation zone. If they don’t improve their form soon, they could fall into the relegation spiral like Venezia, their opponent in the next match.
Although ranked second to last on the rankings, Venezia is in relatively good form. They have only lost 1 of the last 4 rounds, including a 2-2 draw right on Juventus's field.
For a team like Venezia that is fighting to avoid relegation, this is an encouraging result. Thanks to recent good results, Venezia is only 3 points away from safety. If they continue to maintain their current high performance, Venezia still has a chance to escape.
The Pier Luigi Penzo is Venezia's mainstay at the moment. All three of Venezia's wins since the start of the season have come at their home ground. They have also scored more goals (10 vs 7) and conceded fewer (11 vs 20) when playing here.
Therefore, Venezia can be confident when welcoming Empoli at home in the next round. Empoli's away form is also quite bad, only winning 1, drawing 2 and losing 3 in recent away matches.
In the last 5 matches between the two teams, Venezia has the advantage with 2 wins, 2 draws, and 1 loss.
Human resources situation
Michael Svoboda will not be in the Venezia squad due to a knee injury, while Issa Doumbia, Antonio Raimondo and Alfred Duncan are all doubts.
On the other side of the front line, Ola Solbakken is still sidelined along with Pietro Pellegri, while Szymon Zurkowski is slowly regaining his fitness after struggling with an ankle injury all season.
Expected lineup:
Venice: Stankovic, Altare, Idzes, Sverko, Zampano, Caviglia, Busio, Carboni, Ellertsson, Oristanio, Yeboah.
Empoli: Devis Vasquez, Goglichidze, Ismajli, Pezzella, Cacace, Gyasi, Anjorin, Grassi, Henderson, Colombo, Esposito.
The match between Venezia and Empoli takes place at 9:00 p.m. on January 4 (Vietnam time).
