Football Bet of the Day: Sardinians gloomy start to continue on Friday

The fifth round of action from Serie A kicks off with a Friday night double header - including Cagliari vs Empoli at 17:30.

Read on for my Football Bet of the Day, which comes from that very fixture.

No one knows better than Cagliari head coach Davide Nicola quite how good Empoli can be, and the Tuscans can demonstrate that fact by winning at the Unipol Domus.

Nicola was parachuted into Empoli in January with the task of trying to keep them up and he did so in the most dramatic of circumstances.

Empoli were set to be relegated going into added time of their final game of last season against Roma when M'Baye Niang struck to earn Nicola's men a famous 2-1 win to keep them up by a point.

Nicola could have stayed in Empoli but opted to move to Cagliari instead and it's a switch that many are questioning.

Four games into 2024/25, Cagliari are yet to win a game, have scored just once and are one off the foot of the table. Empoli, the club he left behind, are eighth and unbeaten coming off last weekend's brave 0-0 draw at home to Juventus.

Indeed, Empoli are now unbeaten in seven matches in all competitions. And while it's far too early to predict the Blues won't be embroiled in a relegation fight, new boss Roberto D'Aversa has picked up the baton of a team in good form who won't give much away.

Cagliari vs Empoli Odds

D'Aversa will play this game the Empoli way, on the counter, and having already won 2-1 at Roma and drawn 1-1 at Bologna, their away tactics look spot on.

Cagliari come into this game on the back of two losses, 1-0 at Lecce and 4-0 at home to Napoli.

They started well against Napoli before being swamped and are creating chances - they average 16 shots per game; however, they've only converted one.

There is a clamour to bring veteran Gianluca Lapadula back in from the cold to lead the line, the 34-year-old still a hero on Sardinia for the 25 goals he scored for them club winning them promotion two seasons back.

But however Nicola perms his roster, the truth is that Empoli are in good form and, having made more tackles than any other side in the division, they will not go down without a fight.

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