Fight between 'precarious' Seven teams, one objective. Empoli must find itself, starting from the defense

by Simone Cioni EMPOLI Seven teams in nine points that in the last nine days of the championship will play for permanence in Serie A. A sprint for salvation which therefore promises to be quite exciting, with theEmpoli who will try to play their cards to avoid being one of the two teams that will have to go down to Serie B (Monza now honestly seems doomed, although the mathematics do not condemn the Brianza team yet). But let's see, taking advantage of this last break in the championship for the national team's commitments, how the direct rivals are getting to the final rush. Considering only 2025, the Cagliari is the one that has scored the most points, 13, but has not won in five games in which it has collected only 2 points. Next in line we find As an e Verona at 12, who like the Sardinians are the only ones to have won three times. The Lariani, the Azzurri's next opponents, are undoubtedly the strongest squad in terms of quality, but all things considered they have also been dry for three games. The Scaligeri are instead the ones who have won the most overall among the struggling teams and although they have only scored 5 goals since January, one less than Empoli, each of these has been worth 2,4 points. This is because in the last 11 games they have still managed to keep their goal intact four times. Something that Empoli has not managed to do since last November 4th.

It is no coincidence that in the last three months the Azzurri have been the most perforated defense with 25 goals conceded. I expect that D'Aversa's team will absolutely have to improve, since in the same period also the Venice has conceded less than half (11), lowering the 'shutter' in three of the last four games. And this has allowed them to get back into the race, bringing themselves to within two points of Empoli. Lagunari who however have the flaw of not being able to win, still no joy in 2025 on a par with the Azzurri, but also Parma e Lecce they are not doing any better. Although since the beginning of the year they have obtained 4 and 6 points more than Empoli, respectively, the Emilians have won only one match and the Salentini have lost their last four games in a row (two points in the last six matchdays, only one more than captain Grassi and his teammates). Lecce and Empoli are the ones with the two most prolific scorers (Krstovic with 10 and Esposito with 8 goals), but they are also the two teams with the fewest players to score: just five for the Apulians, two more for Empoli.

Another statistic that clearly illustrates the difficulties Empoli has experienced so far is the number of goals scored from the bench: so far, D'Aversa has only scored 4 goals from substitutes, either directly or as an assist, better than Lecce (just two), while for example, those who came on for Parma have contributed to 19 goals, or those who came off the bench have contributed 14 goals for Cagliari's former players Nicola, Luperto and Piccoli. Empoli hopes to reverse this in the next matches with the recovery of their injured players. Let's not forget that in a fight where experience counts for a lot, Empoli is the third team with the lowest average age after Parma and Verona. Regardless, however, Empoli still has its future in its own hands: taking home 4 points from the next two matches (Como and Cagliari) would mean getting back on track, otherwise the feat would be even more prohibitive.