Monza will travel to Empoli on Saturday looking for their fourth consecutive Serie A victory after their incredible turnaround under new leadership.
The hosts are now two points behind Monza, who have won three straight games to climb to 12th place in the standings, after narrowly missing out on their second victory of the year last week.
Empoli have been unable to convert draws into victories thus far, despite the fact that they have only lost 3 league matches to this stage of their second season back in Serie A, which is their best performance in that regard since 2006.
The most recent instance of this was particularly agonising because, last weekend, Mattia Destro’s spectacular second-half goal was cancelled out by Torino’s late reply, and Paolo Zanetti’s team wasted a one-goal advantage.
The Azzurri could have scored several more goals and ranked higher than their current 14th place, much to Zanetti’s chagrin, previously having come close to rescuing a point at home to Milan before losing points in stoppage time.
Since the former Venezia coach took over his old team in the summer, they have only managed one victory, which included an early exit from the Coppa Italia against teams from a lower division.
While Zanetti may have guided his team to a four-game winning streak away from home, they are now returning to Stadio Carlo Castellani in search of their first home victory since a shocking 3-2 loss to Napoli in April.
After a remarkable turn of events that saw Monza move from the bottom of the Serie A standings to mid-table, Raffaele Palladino took over as manager. His team now travels to Tuscany with great confidence following their third straight victory on Sunday.
Palladino became the first Serie A coach to win all three of his games at a promoted club after a 2-0 victory over Spezia at home, but the former Juventus winger won’t be satisfied with that.
Monza has defeated legendary opponents like Juve and Ligurian rivals Sampdoria and Spezia without giving up a goal, proving that their inexperience in the top division is no longer an obstacle.
Stefano Sensi, Gianluca Caprari, and captain Matteo Pessina all scored against Samp, and Pablo Mari, an Arsenal loanee, scored the vital second goal last weekend, all in conjunction with Palladino’s tactical adjustments since succeeding Giovanni Stroppa.
The team supported by former Rossoneri supremos Adriano Galliani and Silvio Berlusconi will now look to extend their winning streak in order to boost morale even more before travelling to San Siro next week.
While Lorenzo Tonelli, Jean-Daniel Akpa Akpro, and Ardian Ismajli are anticipated to be out for Empoli once more this week, midfielder Alberto Grassi ought to recover from a rib injury sustained against Milan earlier this month.
The hosts’ engine room will once again be led by Filippo Bandinelli and Razvan Marin, so the latter is most likely to begin on the bench.
Mattia Destro hopes to unseat Nicolo Cambiaghi and join Sam Lammers up front after scoring the opening goal in Turin the last time out to avoid matching his longest goal drought in Serie A, which had been 17 games. Martin Satriano, an Inter loanee, gives Paolo Zanetti another choice if necessary.
In the meantime, Monza’s Luca Marrone might still be out with an ankle issue, and first-choice striker Andrea Petagna is still questionable because of a muscular injury that has prevented him from participating in the visitors’ recent comeback.
The competition for the starting spot up front should therefore be between Dany Mota and current starter Christian Gytkjaer, with Italy internationals Matteo Pessina and Gianluca Caprari providing creative support.
Empoli possible starting lineup:
Vicario; Ebuehi, De Winter, Luperto, Parisi; Haas, Marin, Bandinelli; Bajrami; Lammers, Mattia Destro
Monza possible starting lineup:
Di Gregorio; Izzo, Mari, Caldirola; Ciurria, Rovella, Sensi, Carlos; Caprari, Matteo Pessina; Dany Mota
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