Venezia vs Empoli Preview: Team News & Prediction
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Eusebio Di Francesco is coming under increasing pressure at Venezia as relegation back down to Serie B beckons ahead of welcoming Empoli ‘The Floating City’ this weekend.
Kick-off date/time: Saturday 4th January, 2025: UK – 2:00pm / US ET – 9:00am / US PT – 6:00am
How to watch on TV: UK – Not televised / US – Select matches will be televised on CBS Sports so it is worth checking their schedule
How to watch online: UK – OneFootball / US – Paramount+
Venezia Preview: Struggling Venetians
Paolo Vanoli led Venezia to promotion back to the top-flight last season but the Venetians lost their manager to Torino with former Roma boss Eusebio Di Francesco, who most recently oversaw the relegation of Frosinone down to Serie B, being given the job.
His naïve style of football has been slightly altered to be more pragmatic but they remain in the relegation zone with just three wins in 18 matches so far this season. The hosts most recently suffered a 1-0 loss to Napoli at Stadio Diego Armando Maradona last weekend.
Empoli Preview: Fading down the table
Under the management of former Benevento coach Roberto D’Aversa, Empoli begin this weekend’s round of fixtures sitting in the bottom-half of Serie A after an underwhelming run of results that followed on from what was a bright start to the campaign.
The Florence-based club come into this one on the back of a 2-1 defeat at home to Genoa in their most recent outing last weekend to mean they have now suffered three successive defeats with just one win in their last seven matches.
Venezia Team News: Svoboda out, Duncan a doubt
Michael Svoboda is unavailable for Venezia due to a knee injury this weekend as the hosts also have several injury doubts, such as Issa Doumbia and Antonio Raimondo as well as Ghana international Alfred Duncan.
Predicted XI (3-4-1-2): Stankovic; Altare, Idzes, Sverko; Zampano, Caviglia, Busio, Carboni; Ellertsson; Oristanio, Yeboah
Unavailable: Svoboda (Injured)
Questionable: Doumbia (Injured), Duncan (Injured), Raimondo (Injured)
Empoli Team News: A few issues
Summer signing Ola Solbakken remains sidelined alongside Pietro Pellegri for this weekend’s trip to Venice, whilst key midfielder Szymon Zurkowski is edging his way back to full fitness after dealing with an ankle injury throughout the campaign.
Predicted XI (4-4-2): Devis Vasquez; Goglichidze, Ismajli, Pezzella, Cacace; Gyasi, Anjorin, Grassi, Henderson; Colombo, Esposito
Unavailable: Ebuehi (Injured), Sazonov (Injured), Viti (Injured), Haas (Injured), Solbakken (Injured), Pellegri (Injured)
Questionable: Zurkowski (Injured)
Venezia vs Empoli Prediction
Venezia have, as mentioned, been a little more pragmatic than they have been under Di Francesco in the past as they come into this one on the back of a slender defeat to title challenging Napoli last weekend. They now face an Empoli side that themselves have been quite defensive and reactive, even when at their best under D’Aversa, so a low-scoring affair is to be expected for this one in Venice.
Venezia vs Empoli Tip: Under 2.5 goals
