Match statistic
Empoli have drawn three of their last four league games against Fiorentina (L1), after not recording a draw in their previous seven Serie A games against the Viola (W3 L4).
Fiorentina have won just one of their last six Serie A away games against Empoli (D2 L3) – 4-0 on 20 November 2016 – after having won four of their previous five (D1).
This is only the third time that Empoli have faced Fiorentina in Serie A with more points in the table going into the matchday: in the previous two, the Viola obtained a win (2-1 on 15 October 2006) and a draw (1-1 on 19 February 2023).
Empoli are unbeaten in their first five Serie A games of a season for the first time in the competition (W2 D3); overall, the only Tuscan team to have played without losing the first six games of a single top-flight championship in the last 40 years was Fiorentina in 2007/08.
Fiorentina have won three of their last six away games in Serie A (D1 L2), after having recorded no wins in the previous six; however, the Viola have started this tournament, under Raffaele Palladino, with a draw and a defeat away from home: the last coach to fail to win any of his first three away games in the competition with this team was Vincenzo Montella, in 2012/13.
Three of Empoli's last four home games in Serie A have ended 0-0, including the two most recent: only twice in their history in the competition have they recorded more home games in a row without goals scored or conceded, in April 1987 (three) and January 2015 (four).
Fiorentina, along with Juventus, are one of two teams that have not conceded a goal in the second half of this Serie A; on the other hand, only Monza (17) have attempted fewer shots than Empoli (22) in the second half of the current tournament.
Sebastiano Esposito became, against Cagliari, the second player in the history of Serie A under the age of 23 to score two consecutive goals in the competition over 1700 days apart (1735, less than only Giuliano Fiorini's 2016 in 1980); the Empoli striker could find the net in two consecutive league appearances for the first time since last December, when he scored for Sampdoria against Feralpisalò and Bari.
Ardian Ismajli is the player who has recorded the most defensive clearances in this start of the championship (51), while Empoli's other central defender, Mattia Viti, is first for tackles won (15). However, among the outfield players currently in the tournament, the Albanian from Empoli (5850) is, together with Mário Rui (5965), one of the two who have played the most minutes without scoring over the last four Serie A seasons (since 2021/22).
Empoli are the team against which Moise Kean has scored the most goals in Serie A: three, in five matches; the Fiorentina striker has scored in two of the last three games in the top flight, as many times as in the previous 36.