Monza – Empoli

Should we bet on both teams to score?

Before the game against Milan, Monza were the only team without defeat in the league in 2023. Roberto Palladino's side lost narrowly to the Rossoneri, although the game could have been far more devastating. "The Brienzolli managed to catch up in the last matchday. They lost 3-0 to Salernitana on Sunday. The Seahorses scored all of their goals in the second half, dominating proceedings throughout most of the match. It can hardly be said that the Biancorossi deserved to be beaten like that. For example, in the 39th minute Patrick Churria had an excellent opportunity to put his team in front and in the 55th minute Dani Mota had to equalize. In both cases, Guillermo Ochoa proved his skills once again. Interestingly, Churria was also very close to scoring against Milan. Only by some miracle, none of his shots found their way into the Romanian goalkeeper's net. Prior to those two meetings, Monza had no problem scoring in each of their matches this year. At home, however, the Brienzolli (throughout the season) have only failed to produce goals against the aforementioned Milan and Atalanta in Matchday 5. Interestingly, the xG statistics directly confirm the validity of these figures, but there is a clear deviation on the xGA. Thus, at the Brianteo, Monza should have conceded 4.43 goals more by this model. Empoli cannot win in five rounds. The opponents, however, are far from weak. In this stretch, the Tuscan side have faced Torino (2-2), Roma (2-0), Spezia (2-2), Fiorentina (1-1) and Napoli (0-2). The Azzurri, normally restrained in their results, were prone to goals in matches against their nearest neighbours. Like their opponents, Empoli are clearly out of sorts in terms of statistics. Thus, according to xGA, the team should concede 5.15 more away goals than they have. And that's with a rather lacklustre away performance: two wins and six draws in 12 meetings. The good news for the tiffosi will be the return to the field after the disqualifications of Bandinelli and Akpa-Akpro.Three of the last four home matches for Monza have seen goals from both of the teams. There is a good chance of that happening again.