A very one-sided fixture: All the key stats ahead of Milan-Empoli | OneFootball

AC Milan return to league action this evening as they take on Empoli at San Siro, hoping to get back to winning ways after consecutive draws in Serie A.

The win against Slovan Bratislava in the Champions League made it three in a row in that competition, but if anything it only served to deepen some of the worries about the defensive woes.

Tonight’s game comes against a team that doesn’t score many goals but doesn’t let in many either, so it will be a different kind of test. Our pre-match preview has the latest team news and some opposition insight.

Key facts and stats

➤ Milan have won six of their last seven Serie A matches (D1) against Empoli, keeping a clean sheet in five of those games, including the last three. All three of Empoli’s victories in their 32 Serie A encounters (D9 L20) against Milan have come at San Siro: in 2003, 2007 and the most recent in 2017.

➤ Milan have alternated between a match with at least one goal conceded and a clean sheet in their last 10 league matches; specifically, the Rossoneri have not conceded a goal in five of their last nine Serie A encounters, including the most recent against Juventus – just one fewer clean sheet than the six they recorded in the previous 23 matches plaved in 2024.

➤ Milan have failed to score in their last two Serie A games played at San Siro (D1 L1). The last time the Rossoneri went without a victory for more than two consecutive home games in the league was between February and April 2021 (four games), while the last time they went more than two consecutive home matches without scoring was between October and November 2017 (four games).

➤ Milan have 19 points this season (W5 D4 L3). Since the introduction of three points for a win (from the 1994/95 season), the Rossoneri have only finished in the top three once in 11 instances where they gathered fewer than 19 points after the first 12 Serie A matches – in 2012/13, when they finished third.

➤ Empoli have drawn their last two league matches 1-1 (against Lecce and Udinese) and could end three consecutive matches with a 1-1 draw for the first time in their Serie A history.

➤ Empoli have drawn their last two away matches in the league (against Parma and Lecce) and could end three consecutive away matches in Serie A in a draw for the first time since December 2021-February 2022 (four in that case).

➤ Milan is the only team yet to score a goal from outside the box in Serie A this season; the last long- range goal by the Rossoneri was back in May against Cagliari (scored by Tijjani Reijnders). Meanwhile, Empoli have had the fewest shots from outside the box in the current league season (39, 12 fewer than Milan), but from those, two goals have been scored

➤ Milan’s Tammy Abraham has scored more Serie A goals against Empoli than any other opponent (4). Having scored against Cagliari last time out, the English striker is looking to score in consecutive league games for the first time since March 2022.

➤ Pietro Pellegri has already scored three goals (one in each of his last three matches) in nine games of this season – as many as in the previous two Serie A seasons, but in 42 matches with Torino. Since the introduction of three points for a win (from the 1994/95 season), onlv two Empoli plavers have scored in four consecutive league games: Francesco Tavano (2006) and Massimo Maccarone (2015).