MILAN – Inter’s 2016 gets underway this evening as they travel to Empoli for their first match since Serie A’s annual winter break. Roberto Mancini’s Nerazzurri will kick off at the Stadio Castellani at 18:00 CET.
While you wait for the action to begin, check out the facts and figures behind the clash – courtesy of our friends at Opta:
HEAD TO HEAD
Inter have lost just three of their 20 Serie A clashes with Empoli, winning 14 and drawing the other three.
Empoli have managed one point from their last six league matches with Inter.
There were seven goals the last time these two sides met (a 4-3 Inter win), as many as there had been in the previous four match-ups.
Inter have the better of the head-to-head record overall, but the most common final scoreline is the 1-0 win to Empoli. All of Empoli’s three wins over Inter have been by a goal to nil.
PREVIOUS MEETINGS IN EMPOLI
Inter have won five of their ten away matches against Empoli in Serie A, with three draws and two Empoli wins completing the record.
The Tuscan outfit failed to score a goal in any of their last three home matches against Inter.
Inter have scored at least two goals every time they have beaten Empoli in Empoli.
FORM
Empoli are on a four-match winning streak – it’s the first time they have ever won four Serie A matches in a row.
Twenty-seven points from 17 rounds of matches is Empoli’s best-ever start to a Serie A season.
In the last five match days, Empoli are the only side never to have been behind. They are also the side that has been leading for the longest (258 minutes).
The last team to keep Empoli out were Frosinone back in September. Since then Empoli have scored in 11 straight Serie A matches, the longest scoring run in Serie A after Fiorentina’s 24-match scoring streak.
Inter are currently on the third-best scoring run in Serie A, having found the net in each of their last nine games.
Inter won two and lost two of their last four games of 2015 and kept six clean sheets from their last eight games.
In the last three seasons Inter have only managed to claim one point from a possible nine on the first day back after the Christmas break.
GENERAL STATS
Empoli and Udinese are the only sides in the league to have picked up fewer points at home than they have on the road (13 versus 14).
Empoli have lost more points from a winning position this season that any other club with 12.
Inter have won 11 and drawn one of the 12 matches in which they have taken the lead so far this season.
Tonight’s match pits the team that have conceded most headed goals this season (Empoli with eight) against the only team that have conceded no goals from headers in 2015/16 (Inter).
Inter have only scored one headed goal so far this season, fewer than any other Serie A side.
Inter are one of four sides (along with Torino, Udinese and Verona) not to have scored in the first 15 minutes of play this season.
Empoli lead the way in Serie A in terms of most goals conceded in the first 15 minutes after half-time with seven, while no side has conceded fewer goals than Inter in the same period of the match (one).
Empoli have conceded five goals from corners this season, more than any other side.
No side’s substitutes have scored fewer goals than Empoli’s this season, with only Paredes coming off the bench to score against Udinese.
Only Roma (13) have had more different scorers than Inter (11) this season.
With 16, Inter had more clean sheets than any other Serie A side in the 2015 calendar year.
PLAYER FOCUS
Marko Livaja made six Serie A appearances – including one start – for Inter in the 2012-13 season.
Levan Mchedlidze’s last Serie A goals came against Inter in Milan last season.
Rodrigo Palacio also scored in that game – it’s the Argentine’s last goal in Serie A as he tries to end a 12-match, 608-minute barren patch.
Marcelo Brozovic scored his first Serie A goal in the match against Empoli last May.
If picked tonight Gary Medel will make his 50th Serie A appearance.
Piotr Zielinski has assisted a goal for Massimo Maccarone in each of Empoli’s last two Serie A matches.
Mauro Icardi has scored in Inter’s last two matches, the first time he has managed goals in consecutive games this season. Icardi has four in his last four.
Icardi is two goals away from hitting the 50-goal milestone in Serie A.
No player has provided more assists this season than Riccardo Saponara (six).
Massimo Maccarone has two headed goals this season, more than any other player.
Only Bacca (25) and Destro (23) have been flagged offside more times than Maccarone this season (20).
Samir Handanovic has the highest shots-saved percentage (84.5%) of any goalkeeper with at least five appearances in the top five European leagues this season.
IN THE DUGOUT
Marco Giampaolo has never beaten Inter in Serie A – he managed a draw while in charge of Cagliari in October 2006, but other than that it’s been five defeats from five for the current Empoli boss.
Roberto Mancini has won nine of his 12 matches against Empoli in Serie A, with two draws and one defeat completing the Inter coach’s record.
Giampaolo and Mancini have faced off three times in Serie A: two Mancini wins, one draw and no Giampoalo victories is how things stand.
REFEREE AND DISCIPLINE
Despite the fact that Inter have conceded the fewest fouls of any side this Serie A season with 218, only Atalanta (ten) and Genoa (eight) have received more red cards than the Nerazzurri (six).
Domenico Celi has taken charge of 114 matches in Serie A, including six this season, none of which has been an away victory (five home wins and a solitary draw).
Empoli have lost two of three Serie A games with Celi in charge, picking up a single victory. The game in which the referee from Bari awarded the most fouls this season featured the side from Tuscany: 36 were committed in Empoli v Genoa.
Inter have crossed paths with Celi eights times previously: the Nerazzurri have six wins, one draw and one loss with him in the middle.
SUSPENDED:
Empoli: none.
Inter: Melo (three games).
AT RISK OF SUSPENSION:
Empoli: Mario Rui.
Inter: Kondogbia, Medel.
