Inter Milan continue their pursuit of leaders AC Milan as they host Empoli in a Friday night Serie A fixture. The Nerazzurri are one of the most in-form teams in the Italian topflight and will be confident of seeing off the visitors, who have looked out of sorts lately.
Inter Milan bounced back from their shock defeat at Bologna with a 2-1 victory at Udinese last time. They raced to a two-goal lead in the first half through Ivan Perisic and Lautaro Martinez before the hosts pulled one back midway through the second period.
Playing two days before their rivals, Inter Milan have the chance to go top of the standings, at least temporarily with a win on Friday. Simone Inzaghi’s men will be confident of coming out on top having won five of their last six Serie A matches.
Another reason for optimism is Inter Milan’s home record that has seen them claim three wins and a draw from their last four matches. Lautaro Martinez’s return to form is also a major boost with the striker netting a hat-trick in a recent 5-0 win over Salernitana at the San Siro.
Empoli appear to be at the beach already as they have very little to play for at the moment. They look set for a finish in the bottom half of the table, sitting 10 points off 10th place Torino with three matches left to play.
The lack of motivation has been evident for a while now as Empoli have claimed just one win from their last 18 Serie A matches. They suffered a 3-1 home defeat to Torino in their previous fixture despite scoring first through Szymon Zurkowski.
While Empoli have been generally poor in recent times, their record on the road has been particularly woeful with four defeats from their last five away matches. Aurelio Andreazzoli’s men have also struggled for goals on their travels, scoring just once in that run.
How the bookies view it
The bookies have Inter Milan as overwhelming favourites with a home win priced at 2/13 by SBK. An unlikely victory for Empoli is valued at 20/1 by Coral while SBK is also offering odds of 44/5 for a draw.
Recent head to head
Inter Milan often come out on top in this fixture, winning the last nine matches against Empoli. They have also beaten the visitors twice this season, winning 2-0 in the reverse fixture before claiming a 3-2 extra-time victory in the Coppa Italia back in January.
Players to watch
It has been a timely return to form for Lautaro Martinez, who has found the net six times in his last eight Serie A matches. The Argentine striker now has 17 goals in the league this season and is priced at 4/6 by Paddy Power to get on the score sheet on Friday.
Given Empoli’s attacking problems on their travels, Inter Milan will be targeting a shutout on Friday. Stefan de Vrij and Milan Skriniar are likely to continue their central defensive partnership and can lead the Nerazzurri to a clean sheet at evens with Paddy Power.
Anything else catch the eye?
Inter Milan are set to come out on top and with a clean sheet also expected, a win to nil could be on the cards at 11/10 with BetVictor. Given their attacking quality, they are likely to score multiple goals and could be tipped in the -2 handicap market at 4/6 with Unibet.
A comfortable victory is expected for Inter Milan and they could be tipped to win both halves on Friday at 21/20 with William Hill.
This Serie A match between Inter Milan and Empoli will be played on May 6, 2022 and kick off at 17:45. Check below for our tipsters best Inter Milan vs Empoli prediction. You may also visit our dedicated betting previews section for the most up to date previews.
