Empoli vs. Sampdoria: Preview and betting tips

The poor Monday football programme will at least offer the match of the 18th round of Serie A between Empoli and Sampdoria Genoa. While the home side have a comfortable cushion in the relegation zone, the visitors lack padding and the bottom of the table is pushing them hard.

Empoli drew twice away from home after the national break, first at Udine and then at Lazio, equalizing with two goals in the last ten minutes. They are 13th in the table and already have a ten point lead on the relegation zone.

Sampdoria beat Sassuolo after Christmas, but then fell to Napoli and then to Fiorentina in the cup. They are in penultimate position, already six points behind 17th-placed Spezia. They need to work hard.

Empoli’s key players

The mainstay of the home side is central midfielder and team captain Filippo Bandinelli, he has scored twice so far. Twenty-two-year-old talented left back Fabiano Parisi has already peeked into the Italy senior national team, also thanks to two goals this year.

Sampdoria’s key figures

Serbian international Filip Djuricic operates in the midfield of Genoa and has scored two accurate goals so far. 35-year-old veteran and former Italian international Francesco Caputo has scored three times and assisted once from the tip of the attack so far.

What to expect and what to bet on?

Empoli have struggled in attack, striking more than once in just two of their last five games. Its top scorer has netted just three goals. Overall, the club has struck on 15 occasions in Serie A, with only two teams worse.

And Sampdoria are the worst ever in this respect. Eight shots in 17 games, that’s less than half a goal per game. In addition, with 30 goals conceded, they have the second worst defensive record. Simply everything points to relegation for Genoa.

Considering Sampdoria’s terrible defensive performance, but primarily offensive, also considering Empoli’s valuable draws with Udine and Lazio in the past few days, I think the home side will win.

Source: Serie A