Serie A: Inter Milan vs Empoli | 7 May, 12:45 AM (PST)

[Mary C]

POTENTIAL STARTING LINEUPS: 

INTER MILAN: 

GK | Samir Handanovic 

D | Milan Skriniar 

D | Stefan de Vrij 

D | Federico Dimarco 

MF | Matteo Darmian 

MF | Arturo Vidal 

MF | Marcelo Brozovic 

MF | Roberto Gagliardini 

MF | Ivan Perisic 

F | Edin Dzeko 

F | Lautaro Martinez 

 

EMPOLI: 

GK | Guglielmo Vicario 

D | Simone Romagnoli 

D | Mattia Viti 

D | Sebastiano Luperto 

D | Fabiano Parisi 

MF | Liam Henderson 

MF | Kristjan Asllani 

MF | Szymon Zurkowski 

F | Andrea La Mantia 

F | Federico Di Francesco 

F | Andrea Pinamonti 

Empoli, along with Andrea Pinamonti, is set to take the road to San Siro stadium on Saturday where they will square off with Inter Milan. Inter Milan, 22-9-4, is currently 2nd in Serie A while Empoli, 9-10-16, ranks 14th in Serie A. For the upcoming match, Inter Milan knows well that they cannot take the risk of committing any errors as they race for the Serie A title in the following weeks, which means that Simone Inzaghi’s men need to win all of their games for the month. Empoli, on the other hand, is one point away from securing Serie A safety for the next season, and they will be positive about getting on the score sheet with one goal in their last three games, to say the least. Inter players however require three points in this game to hold their ground with Milan which means they are expected to work more for maximum points in the final weeks. 

 

Inter is heading into this game with a strong league form, having won five of their last six league games. They are expected to lock in all three points in this tie since Empoli is on thin ice after winning only one out of thirteen league games since the start of the year. As if things could not get any better for Inter, in the past few weeks, they have been scoring goals on a regular basis. They were able to score 14 goals in their last six league outings. The only downside is that Inter has struggled in terms of stopping conceding goals. One of the most awaited Inter players is Edin Dzeko. In his pro soccer career, he had a starting assignment in 362 outings. He has tallied 214 goals scored in the 33,722 minutes he played, with a total of  67 assists. Another player that is anticipated to impact the upcoming match is Lautaro Martinez. Throughout his career, Martinez has assisted on a goal 18 times while also scoring 76 total goals. He had a starting assignment in 133 outings. Currently, he averages 0.60 goals per 90 minutes. 

 

Empoli’s last game was anything but victorious as they were defeated by Torino in a final of 3-1. They concluded the match by converting 219 out of 233 passes tried for a rate of 94.0%. Empoli managed to connect 4 out of 8 dribbles attempted, which enabled them to finish with a 50.0% successful dribble percentage. Out of 11 shots attempted, they had 4 shots on goal which had them at a 36.4% rate when they were last in the field. With a total of 43 goals and 19 assists, Empoli has an average of 1.23 goals and 0.54 assists per 90 minutes. Forward Andrea Pinamonti should be able to boost Empoli as he has scored 23 goals and assisted on a goal 6 times. During his pro soccer career, he has also tallied 7 yellow card warnings. Currently, Pinamonti is averaging 0.31 goals per 90 minutes and has had a starting assignment in 71 matches. Nedim Bajrami is also believed to be one of the players to watch out for as he has been handed 10 yellow card cautions in total. He also has had 125 career starting assignments. Throughout his career, he has been averaging 0.18 goals per 90 minutes, with 22 goals and 20 assists in total.  

 

Since Milan is not set to play until Sunday, Inter has the opportunity to claim the top spot in the Serie A– that is if they manage to defeat Empoli. Seeing Empoli’s current form, we can predict that Inter might just steal the top spot from Milan. Unfortunately for Empoli, they are most likely to face yet another defeat as they take on the high-flying Inter. 

 

12:45 AM (PST), Saturday, 7 May 2022. San Siro stadium, Milan, Italy.