Preview: Juventus vs. Empoli - prediction, team news, lineups

The visitors, meanwhile, can jump one spot to ninth should they pull off a shock victory.

Match preview

It has been an incredibly testing opening period of the season for Maximiliano Allegri and Juventus, although last weekend's 1-0 win away to Torino in the Turin derby has quietened some of the negative noise surrounding the club.

Dusan Vlahovic bagged his sixth league goal of the season with a 74th-minute winner, which saw the Old Lady move within six points of the Champions League qualification places.

Things have not exactly gone to plan in Europe for them either, with a surprising 3-1 defeat to Maccabi Haifa in Israel last week leaving the 1996 Champions League winners on the brink of elimination from the competition.

With two winnable league games coming up against Empoli and Lecce, Allegri can ill afford any unnecessary slip-ups from his team with crucial fixtures against Benfica, Paris Saint-Germain and Inter Milan on the horizon.

As such, there is significant pressure on his shoulders ahead of Friday night's game at the Juventus Stadium, especially as a win would move them above their fiercest rivals Inter in the table.

Empoli, meanwhile, have began the season in better form than many would have expected even after comfortably surviving their first season back in Serie A in the last campaign.

Their 1-0 win against potential relegation rivals Monza last weekend moved Paolo Zanetti's side six points clear of the drop zone and into the top half of the table ahead of their trip to Turin on Friday.

Nicolas Haas broke the deadlock in only the 11th minute, allowing Empoli to sit deep and soak up plenty of pressure from the visitors, who could not break their opponents down despite generating 16 shots and nine corners from their 65% possession across the course of the game.

Zanetti will almost certainly instil a similar gameplan from the start against Juventus on Friday, with avoiding defeat representing a more than adequate return for his side.

Juventus Serie A form:

D

D

L

W

L

W

Juventus form (all competitions):

L

W

W

L

L

W

Empoli Serie A form:

D

L

W

L

D

W

Team News

Juventus are expected to remain without Mattia De Sciglio, Marley Ake, Federico Chiesa, Angel Di Maria and Kaio Jorge due to injury on Friday.

Paul Pogba has returned to training following the knee injury which has prevented the France midfielder from making his second debut for the club since re-joining from Manchester United in the summer, but he is unlikely to start the match at this early stage of his recovery.

Bremer could miss out due to a thigh strain sustained against Torino, with club captain Leonardo Bonucci likely to replace the 25-year-old at the heart of Allegri's new back three system, with Filip Kostic continuing in his favoured left wing-back role.

Empoli, meanwhile, may travel without Ardian Ismajli, Lorenzo Tonelli, Alberto Grassi and Jean-Daniel Akpa Akpro due to injury.

Zanetti is unlikely to make any changes to the starting XI which defeated Monzo last time out, although he may be tempted to bring another defender into the team in order to make them more solid at the back.

Juventus possible starting lineup:

Szczesny; Danilo, Boucci, Sandro; Cuadrado, McKennie, Locatelli, Rabiot, Kostic; Vlahovic, Kean

Empoli possible starting lineup:

Vicario; Stojanovic, De Winter, Luperto, Parisi; Haas, Grassi, Henderson; Pjaca; Satriano, Lammers

We say: Juventus 1-0 Empoli

Both of these sides' league games this season have only averaged exactly two goals per game, so it is hard to envisage either goalkeeper being too busy on Friday.

We can see Juventus recording another narrow victory to move themselves one place upwards in the table, with their 3-5-2 formation appearing to suit their key personnel much better than 4-4-2.

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