Preview: Empoli vs Juventus
Juventus will look to continue their unbeaten start to the new Serie A season as they head to Empoli on Saturday evening, taking on the hosts at the Carlo Castellani Stadium in a match kicking off at 18:00 CEST.
Here's your fact sheet ahead of the Bianconeri's Matchday 4 tussle:
Head-to-head
Empoli and Juventus drew their last league match 1-1 at the Allianz Stadium on 27 January - only once have the Tuscans gone unbeaten in two matches in a row against the Bianconeri in Serie A: in 1998/99 (1W, 1D).
Juventus are the team against whom Empoli have found the most difficulty scoring again, failing to find the back of the net in 18 of their 30 head-to-head matches.
Three of Empoli's four victories in their 30 matches (4D, 22L) played against Juventus in Serie A have come in home fixtures.
Empoli have conceded at least two goals in nine of their last 11 Serie A home matches against Juventus: exceptions in the period are the Azzurri's 4-1 victory in May 2023 and their goalless draw in March 2008.
Juventus have won six of their last seven away matches against Empoli in Serie A (1L), scoring 16 goals in that period (2.3 goals per game on average) and conceding just eight.
Interesting Facts
After three clean sheets in the first three matches played this season, Juventus could keep their goal protected in their first four Serie A matches of the season for just the fifth time in their history, after the 2014/15, 1986/87, 1983/84 and 1965/66 campaigns.
The Bianconeri have drawn 11 of their 23 matches (8W, 4L) played in Serie A in 2024, including the last one against Roma, meaning they have more draws than any other team in Europe's top five leagues this calendar year.
Juventus are the team that has conceded the fewest shots on target (two) this season in the top five European leagues.
The match against Empoli sees a battle between the team with the highest percentage of successful passes (Juventus, 90%) and the team with the lowest percentage of successful passes (Empoli, 71%) so far this season.
Player Number
Dusan Vlahovic has scored four goals against Empoli in Serie A, including his first Serie A brace for Juventus, on 26 February 2022 at the Castellani. After his double at the Bentegodi against Hellas Verona, the 24-year-old could score in both of his first two away games of the season for the first time in the Italian top-flight.
Teun Koopmeiners, who scored a goal against Empoli in Serie A in has last away match at the Castellani-Computer Gross Arena with Atalanta in October last year, is the only midfielder to have been involved in at least 30 goals in total in the last three seasons in the league (since 2022/23): 31 for him, at least five more than any other player (at 26, Hakan Calhanoglu).
Nicolas Gonzalez has scored in each of the last two league away matches and could score for three away matches in a row for the first time in Serie A.
Among forwards who have been involved in at least three goals in this tournament, only Lamine Yamal (five, 2007) is younger than Samuel Mbangula (three, 1G+2A, 2004) in the top five major European leagues.
Both Weston Mckennie and Danilo’s previous goals in Serie A have come against Empoli.
Opposition Focus
Emmanuel Gyasi, who scored a goal against Juventus on 22 September 2021 with Spezia, has scored in his last two league matches: only one foreign Empoli player has found the net in three consecutive matches in the three-points-for-a-win era in Serie A: M'Baye Niang, last February.
Emmanuel Gyasi (15 goals in Serie A) is a goal away from equalling Kevin-Prince Boateng (16) in 2nd place among Ghana's top scorers in the Italian top-flight.
Lorenzo Colombo, with 10 goals and four assists so far in Serie A, could become the youngest player (born in March 2002) to register at least 10 goals and at least five assists in the last three seasons (from 2022/23) in the top-flight.
The next match will be Giuseppe Pezzella's 150th game in Serie A (22 so far with Empoli); since his Serie A debut in 2015/16, no player has worn more jerseys than the Azzurri defender: seven (Palermo, Udinese, Genoa, Parma, Atalanta, Lecce and Empoli), equal with Roberto Piccoli, Riccardo Saponara and Simone Verdi.
Mattia De Sciglio played 82 games with Juventus in Serie A, between 2017 and 2024.