TUSCAN PARADOX IN NAPLES: VISITORS TRIUMPH WHERE HOSTS RULE THE LEAGUE

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Napoli - Empoli

April 14th, 2025, 8:45 PM

Monday evening in Naples will offer a clash between two teams that have recently been collecting primarily draw results. The home team Napoli hosts Empoli in a match that could settle a perfectly even head-to-head record.

In the last 20 mutual matches in Serie A, the score between both teams is absolutely even: eight wins for each team and four draws. The Neapolitans won the first meeting this year on October 20th (1-0), after losing both matches to the Tuscans last season (both 0-1).

The last draw between Napoli and Empoli in Serie A dates back to September 13, 2015 (2-2 at the Castellani stadium). Since then, the Neapolitans have recorded seven wins and the Tuscans five in a total of 12 league matches.

Paradoxically, Empoli feels at home at Diego Maradona Stadium. They have won two of their last three away matches against Napoli in Serie A (1 loss), while they won only one of their first eight away matches against the Neapolitans in the top flight (1 draw, 6 losses).

Napoli is going through a results crisis. After a series of seven consecutive league wins, the Partenopei have won only two of their last nine Serie A matches (6 draws, 1 loss). Since the beginning of February 2025, in fact, no team has drawn more matches than the Neapolitans in the five major European leagues (6, the same as Everton).

However, the home team fails to keep clean sheets. Napoli has conceded exactly one goal in each of their last five home league matches, while in the first 10 matches at Maradona Stadium this Serie A season, they conceded only six goals and kept six clean sheets.

Empoli is even worse off. The Tuscans have been without a win in Serie A for 16 consecutive matches (5 draws, 11 losses), equaling their longest such failure in the competition (also 16 between December 2021 and April 2022 under Aurelio Andreazzoli).

After draws with Como and Cagliari, Empoli could draw three matches in a row in Serie A for the first time since August and September 2022 (then it was a series of four draws).

An interesting perspective is the performance of both teams in individual halves. If we counted only the first halves of this league season, Napoli would be 2nd in the table (52 points, the same as Lazio) and Empoli 9th (41, the same as Bologna). Conversely, based on the second halves, the Neapolitans would occupy 7th place (49 points, the same as Milan), while Empoli would be last in the table (19 points).

Romelu Lukaku has been involved in four goals in four matches against Empoli in Serie A (3 goals and 1 assist), including two goals on April 23, 2023, for Inter. The Belgian striker, who has 11 goals and eight assists in the league this season, could be involved in at least 20 goals in a season between Serie A and the Premier League for the first time since the 2020/21 season (then 24 goals and 11 assists for Inter).

The first of Lorenzo Colombo's total 14 goals in Serie A was scored against Napoli on August 31, 2022, at Maradona Stadium when he played for Lecce. An incredible 79% of his goals in the top flight have come on away grounds (11/14), which is the highest ratio in Serie A history among players with at least 14 goals scored in total.

We thank OPTA for providing the statistical data.

Photo: source XYZ