Fiorentina winger Josip Ilicic. (Photo : Getty Images)
Reeling squad Empoli FC (9-13-9, 36 points) will try to get out of their current rut as they face equally struggling contender ACF Fiorentina (16-7-8, 56 points) at the Stadio Carlo Castellani on Sunday, April 10th as the 2015-2016 Serie A season slowly closes.
Empoli is in a downward spiral as of the moment as they are on a 12-game winless slide. Their last win was in early January of this year, a 1-0 decision over Torino on the road.
Gli Azzurri's most recent game was a 0-1 loss to defending champions and current league leaders Juventus FC at the Juventus Stadium last Saturday, as per Goal.
Manager Marco Giampaolo's boys were not able to pierce the net of legendary Italian goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon during the whole 90 minutes while Juve scored one goal courtesy of Croatian forward Mario Mandzukic one minute before the halftime break.
With the loss, Empoli is currently drifting at the 14th spot of the league table, only eight points above the bottom three relegation zone.
Meanwhile, Fiorentina is also struggling to find wins in their recent games as they are now on a five-game winless skid. Their last win was back in February, a 3-2 escape on the road over Atalanta.
Viola was forced into a 1-1 draw by a 10-man UC Sampdoria squad at their own home field of Stadio Artemio Franchi last Sunday, which is an indication of their current poor plays this late in the season, via SkySports.
Slovenian winger Josip Ilicic opened the scoring at the 24th minute, but that was all head coach Paulo Sousa's boys could produce in the match.
Sampdoria's Argentine midfielder Ricky Alvarez leveled the count at the 39th minute as both teams headed into the halftime interval.
I Gigliati found a break at the 71st when another I Blucerchiati midfielder from Argentina, Joaquín Correa, was sent off after getting booked with a second yellow card.
However, Sousa's squad could not take advantage of the red card booking as they failed to score in the late minutes against an undermanned La Samp team.
The predicted result is a 1-0 bounce back win for Fiorentina.
Empoli starting lineup (4-3-1-2 formation): Skorupski; Bittante, Tonelli, Costa, Rui; Zielinski, Maksimovic, Buchel; Saponara; Pucciarelli, Maccarone
Fiorentina starting lineup (4-2-3-1 formation): Tatarusanu; Tomovic, Gonzalo, Astori, Alonso; Costa, Badelj; Tello, Ilicic, Valero; Babacar
