Lazio vs Empoli

April 11, 2015
By: Nemanja Lazarevic

Lazio’s dream run continued with a Coppa Italia triumph over Napoli and they are now looking to make another important step towards Champions League qualification. Defeating high-flying Empoli will be no easy task though even if the Azzurri ended an eight-match unbeaten run by losing to Juventus in Turin.

Seven Serie A wins on the bounce

Not too many people saw Lazio as serious top 3 contenders before the season started despite the fact that the club management had done well to recruit some high-quality players in the summer. New coach Stefano Pioli indeed needed a while to rebuild the squad, but his team hit top form in a perfect time and have been absolutely amazing over the last couple of months. With no European distractions to worry about, the Biancocelesti were able to fully focus on domestic competitions, which has yielded excellent results. The stunning seven-match winning run not only saw Lazio climb to third in the overall standings, but they also created a six-point advantage over their rivals, meaning the final Champions League berth is theirs to lose. Meanwhile, the Biancocelesti also secured a place in the Coppa Italia final by defeating Napoli in midweek, although the difficult match at Stadio San Paolo may mean that the team will not be at their best when facing very good Empoli side. Lazio will be looking to play it patiently, as they usually do at home, but it won’t be easy for them to break the opposition on Sunday.

Dusan Basta and Mauricio are both suspended, whilst Filip Djordjevic, Santiago Gentiletti, Stefan Radu, Abdoulay Konko and Federico Marchetti are out injured.

Who needs star players?

Having secured promotion to the elite division, Empoli opted for a risky approach as the club chiefs decided against seriously reinforcing the squad in favour of keeping the current squad together. That proved to be an excellent decision as coach Maurizio Sarri had a homogeneous group at his disposal with his team hitting the ground running early on. Despite the absence of star players, the Azzurri proved they deserve to be playing in Italy’s top flight and in turn caused plenty of problems even to league’s top sides. Empoli were never really in danger of getting relegated and they have been producing some excellent displays over the last couple of months. This has resulted in club icon Mirko Valdifiori earning his first Italy cap and coach Maurizio Sarri tipped for a high-profile job in the summer. The most important thing is that the players are not getting complacent and continue to play at a high level, as witnessed by the recent eight-match unbeaten run that ended in Turin. Even leaders Juventus had plenty of problems breaking their rock-solid back line, scoring in the dying moments of both periods to secure a 2-0 win, so we can expect Lazio to toil against Maurizio Sarri’s charges as well.

Lorenzo Tonelli should be recalled to the side, but Tiberio Guarente (knee) and Simone Verdi (muscle) miss out through injury.

Verdict

Lazio players will have tired legs after the demanding Coppa Italia clash with Napoli and they could face problems in trying to break in-form Empoli side. The visitors will be happy to sit back and wait for their chance on the break and everything suggests we will see a low-scoring encounter.

Top pick: Under 2.5 goals   2.10 (11/10) @ Paddy Power

Alternative pick 1: Empoli not to score   2.20 (6/5) @ SkyBet

Alternative pick 2: Lazio to win by one goal   3.60 (13/5) @ Ladbrokes

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