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Lazio v Empoli
2021-22 Serie A, Matchday 20
Thursday 6 January 2022
Stadio Olimpico, Rome
Kick-off at 13:30
Lazio will seek the scalp of Empoli when the teams meet in a Serie A clash at the Stadio Olimpico in Rome on the afternoon of Thursday 6 January 2022, kick-off at 13:30.
Lazio are placed eighth on the log (one point off the European berths and seven points off the top four) after an inconsistent first half of the season. They ended 2021 on a good note, with back-to-back 3-1 wins over Genoa and Venezia, with Pedro and Francesco Acerbi scoring in both games.
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Le Aquile coach Maurizio Sarri described his first six month with the Rome club as a “complex journey, full of difficulties”. He added, “Some steps forward, some setbacks. The feeling is different in the last five games, we seem to have found a bit more solidity, even if it is not the one I like.
“We seem to be growing in what I like as well. Everyone talks about us as a dribbling team, in reality we are second or third in the vertical play rankings. Dribbling that we would also like to be vertical, not only horizontal.”
Empoli, meanwhile, are one place and four points behind Lazio. They had put together a five-game unbeaten run at the back end of 2021, but then finished off the year with a 4-2 home loss at the hands of Milan. Nonetheless, the first half of the campaign was a promising one for the Gli Azzurri.
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“My lads did really well, I told them it felt like a victory. Being able to cause Milan so many problems without losing our own shape, that is a real show of strength or a side like Empoli,” said coach Aurelio Andreazzoli. “I was not so interested in the points this evening as the performance and what it says about Empoli going forward.”
In head-to-head stats, Lazio and Empoli have met in 23 matches across all competitions since 1997, with Le Aquile claiming 14 wins compared to four for Gli Azzurri, while five games have been drawn.
When the teams met in the league earlier this season, in Tuscany in August 2021, Lazio claimed a 3-1 away win thanks to goals from Sergej Milinkovic-Savic, Manuel Lazzari and Ciro Immobile.
Lazio v Empoli – Head-to-head
Matches played: 23
Lazio wins: 14
Empoli wins: 4
Draws: 5
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