After seeing a six-game winning streak come to an end in Serie A, Bologna will be eager to get back on track Friday against relegation-threatened Empoli.
Bookmaker Pinnacle offers odds at 2.15 for Bologna to return to winning ways, with the odds at 3.81 for Empoli to win and 3.26 for the draw.
※ Current Odds Date & Time: March 14th, 2:30 P.M. (EST)
Sitting fourth in the table, Bologna is having its best top-flight season since the 1980s, but a 1-0 defeat against Inter Milan has robbed the side of some momentum. Friday’s clash against a struggling side will be seen as a must-win game.
Bologna has so far won exactly half of its 28 Serie A outings, losing only five times. With 25 goals conceded, Thiago Motta has molded his team into one of the tightest defensive units in the league, and Bologna hasn’t had trouble scoring, either. However, things might get a bit complicated in the attacking area due to Joshua Zirkzee’s injury.
Having scored 10 goals and recorded three assists, Zirkzee has played a role in a large amount of Bologna’s 41 goals, but the Dutch talent has been ruled out for three weeks with a hamstring injury. Motta will be happy to know that the first international break of 2024 is just around the corner, but Zirkzee is set to miss at least a couple of games, and Bologna faces a big test without him.
Meanwhile, Empoli has just gotten back its top scorer Szymon Zurkowski. The Polish midfielder, who has scored four times in seven Serie A outings since moving to Empoli in January, picked up an ankle injury late last month but returned to the lineup in a 1-0 defeat to AC Milan last Sunday.
Following an impressive six-game unbeaten streak, which included a draw against Juventus, Empoli has suffered back-to-back losses. The two poor results have left Davide Nicola’s team sitting just one point ahead of the relegation zone. Every point matters right now for Empoli, and the team will look to make it as difficult as possible for Bologna on Friday.
The Stadio Carlo Castellani has witnessed only six goals in the last four games played there. Empoli is the lowest-scoring team in Serie A this season, with 22 goals registered, and there have been only nine goals in 14 home outings. However, the team has tightened things up at the back lately, meaning this match-up likely won’t be a walk in the park for Bologna despite the two sides sitting at opposite ends of the league table.
