Juventus V Empoli

Serie A – Week 29 [Saturday, 4th April – 20:00 GMT] – Juventus Stadium

Juventus

Juventus return to action after the international break to face an Empoli side undefeated in their last 8 Serie A games.

The Bianconeri boast an equally impressive league record, having suffered just one loss all season to date, going the last 19 games unbeaten notching up an impressive 13 wins along the way. Juve’s recent domestic form hasn’t been as strong as their early season performances, but that’s only to be expected given their 14 point lead at the top of the table combined with a string of injuries to key midfield players like Andrea Pirlo and Paul Pogba.

Coach Max Allegri was keen to remind people that the Scudetto is far from secure and Juve still have a way to go before securing up their 4th title in a row.

“We’re 10 matches from the end, and we’re still missing a few points and a few victories to win the Scudetto.” Allegri said in his pre-match press conference earlier today.

“I think two-thirds of the Scudetto will be won if we beat Empoli and Parma.”

Allegri will have limited options against Empoli as the international break has taken its toll in more ways than one.

“I’d say that for tomorrow there are a lot of question marks, because the last two only returned yesterday, Tevez and Pereyra.

“Today I’ll have to evaluate the conditions of both, as well as the conditions of the others in the only training session we have to prepare for the game.

“For the regista? I don’t know, it depends on training today. Pirlo is definitely out. We don’t have Marchisio, we don’t have Pogba.

“So the midfielders we have available are Sturaro, Vidal, Padoin and Pereyra.

“As for which of those will play in front of the defence, we could even play Vidal there, we’ll see.”

With all this in mind it’s very likely, given Empoli’s recent run of form and Juve’s injury woes, that we’ll see Allegri use a 3-5-2 over a 4-3-1-2.

Gianluigi Buffon and Leonardo Bonucci returned from international duty intact, while Allegri suggested Angelo Ogbonna is fit and could start the game tomorrow. The likelihood is Andrea Barzagli will complete the 3 man defence with Simone Padoin or Arturo Vidal playing in front of them, depending on the formation.

Roberto Pereyra only returned to Italy yesterday so it’s very possible that Stefano Sturaro may get a run out in the midfield while Patrice Evra and Stephan Lichtsteiner should both be ready to start on either flank. Carlos Tevez has been in great goal-scoring form in recent weeks and should have recovered from jet-lag to start alongside Alvaro Morata.

Probable lineup:

3-5-2: Buffon, Barzagli, Bonucci, Ogbonna; Lichtsteiner, Vidal, Padoin, sturaro, Evra; Tevez, Morata

Injured Players:

Asamoah and Romulo (Recovering from surgery), Pirlo, Caceres, Pogba, Marchisio, Marrone, Coman

Suspended Players:

None

Form

(L-W-W-W-W)

Empoli

Empoli has been the most critically acclaimed team in the League so far and deservedly so. What they are accomplishing with no money is truly remarkable. They are comfortably 12 points clear from the relegation zone, despite having probably one of the bottom two rosters in the League in terms of quality. It’s not easy to pinpoint how they achieved that: continuity is certainly a factor, but they are basically fielding seven or eight guys that wouldn’t even be high level Serie B players in other clubs.

One big reason is the command, the tactical genius and the low-key demeanor of the coach Maurizio Sarri, whose transition to Serie A football after years cutting his teeth in the lower leagues has not been only seamless, but utterly impressive. He hasn’t just continued to use the same possession football powered by short and smart passes, but he’s even having success with it on the biggest stage, with the same players he had in the previous seasions: they added only Luigi Sepe and Matias Vecino, both on loan, while Riccardo Saponara broke out here in 2012/2013. The environment is so uniquely quiet and relaxed: it’s the ideal situation to play football, especially for the youngsters who have yet to prove themselves.

Their starting XI has been very consistent all year long, besides the attack, because the four strikers aren’t very good. Massimo Maccarone, Manuel Pucciarelli, Francesco Tavano and Levan Mchedlidze have combined for thirteen goals, which is less than 50% of the team’s whole contribution (and three less compared to Carlos Tevez on his own). Maccarone is the leading scorer with seven and he’s likely to partner up with Pucciarelli (who has resolved the standoff with the management over the contract extension) but really any of them has a chance to start. Riccardo Saponera, who returned in June, has added some unpredictability in the CAM position, previously occupied by Simone Verdi, who’s more of a role player.

They have found goals elsewhere, in particular in dead ball situations. Lorenzo Tonelli and Daniele Rugani have been the key components of what has been the fifth best defense in Italy so far; moreover they have scored four and three goals respectively. Their midfield composed by Daniele Croce, Mirko Valdifiori and Matias Vecino is very muscular and balanced, brightened by the vision and passing of Valdifiori. They attack a lot down the flanks with the two fullbacks Elsejd Hysaj and Mario Rui, who has leapfrogged Vincent Laurini in the pecking order earlier in the season and is an authentic energy bunny. Tonelli has missed some games before the break because of a bad ankle, but it looks like he’s ready to play: if he wasn’t, Federico Barba would take his spot and he has showed that he belongs in Serie A.

As every respectable low-table team does, they have collected most of their points at home. They are acceptably bad on the road: they have won only once, but they have also drawn nine times. In the first match of the season, Juventus beat Empoli 2-0 thanks to an Andrea Pirlo magnificent free kick one hour into the game and with Alvaro Morata putting the finishing touch on the win ten minutes later.

Probable Lineup:

4-3-1-2: Sepe; Hysaj, Tonelli, Rugani, Rui; Croce, Valdifiori, Vecino; Saponara; Pucciarelli, Tavano

Injured players:

Guarente

Suspended Players:

None

Form

(W-D-D-D-W)

Formation