Empoli vs Sampdoria Prediction 16.01.2023

• Competition: Italy - Serie A
• Date: Monday, 16th, January 2023
• Kickoff: 19:45 UK / 20.45 CET
• Venue: Stadio Carlo Castellani (Empoli)

Last season, Empoli, their first in the elite club after five years, stayed in Serie A without major problems, finishing in 14th place. Everything seems that this season will not be much different from the last one, so the middle of the table will again to be the biggest maximum for the club from Tuscany. The Azzurri are currently 13th in the table with 19 points -  they are safe at the moment, as they have 10 points more than the first team below the line, and are also too far away from the fight for Europe, 12 points behind the sixth-placed Atalanta.

Meanwhile, Sampdoria is walking on the edge of the abyss or the relegation zone in recent seasons, but this should not be surprising considering that investments in the club are decreasing. Last season, the club from Genoa somehow managed to ensure survival in the elite society, but this season the situation is such that they will have a much more difficult task to keep their first division status. The team with Lugi Ferraris managed to collect a "sloppy" 9 points in the so far course of the Italian championship, which is why they are positioned in a disappointing 18th position, six points outside the danger zone.

Empoli vs Sampdoria Betting Tips: AH1(0)

If anything can encourage Dejan Stankovic's chosen ahead of the duel on Monday, then it is the tradition of mutual clashes, bearing in mind that La Samp came out as winners four times in the last five against Empoli.

The continuation of the season for Empoli after the World Cup break can be characterized as very "successful", given that the club from Tuscany remained undefeated in both games on very unpleasant visits to Udinese and Lazio.

In fact, Napoli are the only ones who managed to defeat them in the last five games. Also, Empoli has significantly improved their domestic form, which is best shown by three "clean" victories from the last four games.

The Tuscans, this season, have a tendency to play quite slowly and patiently. They are last in the table in terms of efficiency, and even 12 out of 17 games they ended with less than two goals, so it is to be expected that they will adopt a defensive approach this time as well.

Sampdoria, without a doubt, has the worst campaign in the club's history, so it should not be surprising that they are one of the candidates for a move to a lower rank. Their, definitely, biggest problem is efficiency, and the fact that they shaken the net only eight times this season makes their search for salvation even more difficult.

One gets the impression that La Samp aimed to end the Coppa Italia competition at an early stage, in order to focus solely on survival in the coming period. The mid-week defeat by Fiorentina (0-1) was their sixth in their previous seven games in all competitions, so with a performance like that, confidence can't be high.

The players of Empoli were rewarded with a point for their combativeness in both games in the second part of the season, and now they will have a much weaker opponent compared to Udinese and Lazio, where they will want to leave a strong impression in front of the home fans and achieve their first triumph in 2023.