Neither side have picked up any points in the new year yet with the both narrowly losing against Serie A contenders in Napoli and Inter respectively in the mid-week.
This season the Granata find themselves in a surprisingly lowly 14th place in what is a very compact Serie A mid-table.
Giampiero Ventura’s men have picked up the bulk of their 22-point total at home, 15, beating the likes of Fiorentina, Sampdoria, Bologna and Palermo at the Stadio Olimpico di Torino.
Empoli were expected to struggle this season after losing key personnel in the summer but under new coach Marco Giampaolo they have not looked back and sit in magnificent 8th place in Serie A.
The Azzurri went on four game winning streak before losing to Inter and have beaten the likes of Udinese, Palermo, Hellas Verona and Bologna on the road this season.
There have been only 12 encounters between the two teams in the last 30 years in both Serie A and Serie B and it is the home side that have the historical advantage with six victories to Empoli’s four alongside two draws.
The last time these two sides played each other was the scene of one of the most comical events of Serie A in 2014/15 as Torino keeper Daniele Padelli failed to control a back pass, which consigned his team to a 1-0 defeat to Empoli.
In terms of team news, Afriyie Acquah is suspended for the hosts after picking his fifth yellow card of the season at Napoli but Maxi Lopez may be brought back into the starting line-up in place of Andrea Belotti.
Lorenzo Tonelli could return for the visitors after missing out on his side’s defeat to Inter but apart from that Empoli have no fresh injury concerns.
Form Guide: Torino (W-W-D-L-L) Empoli (W-W-W-W-L)
Expected Starting XIs
Torino: Padelli; Bovo, Glik, Moretti; Peres, Benassi, Vives, Baselli, Molinaro; Quagliarella, Maxi Lopez
Empoli: Skorupski, Laurini, Barba, Costa, Mario Rui; Zielinski, Paredes, Buchel; Saponara; Pucciarelli, Maccarone
Infographic from www.sporticos.com
