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Sampdoria continue their Serie A campaign with a home game against Empoli on Saturday.
The hosts have suffered from inconsistencies this season. They recorded their first win of the year two weeks ago with a 4-0 triumph over Sassuolo at home.
They fell 1-0 to league leaders AC Milan in their previous outing, making it their fourth loss in their last five league games. They are now two points and two places above the relegation zone.
Empoli remained winless in Serie A in 2022, as they played out a 1-1 draw against Cagliari at home last week.
Sampdoria vs Empoli Head-to-Head
The two clubs have locked horns 36 times across all competitions with their first meeting dating back to 1986. La Samp have been the better side against their southern rivals, recording 17 wins. Empoli have 10 wins against the hosts while nine games have ended in draws.
They last squared off in league action at the Stadio Carlo Castellani in September. Francesco Caputo scored a brace in the 3-0 win for Sampdoria.
Sampdoria form guide (all competitions): L-W-L-L-L
Empoli form guide (all competitions): D-D-L-L-D
Sampdoria vs Empoli Team News
Sampdoria
Manolo Gabbiadini's knee injury has been adjudged more serious than previously thought and he is expected to be sidelined for a considerable amount of time. As confirmed by the club earlier this week, Mikkel Damsgaard is not expected to play again this season with a thigh injury.
Maya Yoshida and Kristoffer Askildsen will be the other absentees for the game with injuries. New signing Sebastian Giovinco is expected to make his debut for the club in this game.
Injured: Mikkel Damsgaard, Maya Yoshida, Kristoffer Askildsen, Manolo Gabbiadini
Doubtful: None
Suspended: None
Empoli
Gli Azzurri head into the game without Riccardo Marchizza, who has been ruled out for the remainder of the campaign on account of a ligament injury. Sebastiano Luperto has trained ahead of the game but the match comes too soon for him. Nicolas Haas' involvement here remains doubtful as he missed the game against Cagliari.
Injured: Riccardo Marchizza, Sebastiano Luperto
Doubtful: Nicolas Haas
Suspended: None
Sampdoria vs Empoli Predicted XI
Sampdoria Predicted XI (4-4-2): Emil Audero (GK); Nicola Murru, Omar Colley, Alex Ferrari, Bartosz Bereszynski; Tomas Rincon, Albin Ekdal, Morten Thorsby, Antonio Candreva; Francesco Caputo, Stefano Sensi
Empoli Predicted XI (4-3-2-1): Guglielmo Vicario (GK); Petar Stojanovic, Mattia Viti, Simone Romagnoli, Fabiano Parisi; Szymon Zurkowski, Kristjan Asllani, Filippo Bandinelli; Nedim Bajrami, Liam Henderson; Andrea Pinamonti
Sampdoria vs Empoli Prediction
The hosts have just one win in their last eight league games, while the visiting side are winless in their last eight outings. Only last-placed Salernitana have conceded more goals than Empoli (48) in Serie A this season (53). While only Salernitana (16) have lost more games than the hosts (14) in Serie A.
A low-scoring draw seems to be the likely outcome when the two sides meet on Saturday.
Prediction: Sampdoria 1-1 Empoli
