Bologna vs Empoli Prediction: The Red and Blues to secure 2nd win in a row

Saturday's program of the Italian championship round seven kicks off with a match between Bologna and Empoli. Who will be stronger? Let's choose several bets at once.

After a poor start to the season, Bologna didn't have a single win in the first five rounds of the Italian championship. The Red and Blues have a new head coach. Sinisa Mihajlovic was dismissed after three years at the helm of Bologna. The new coach is Thiago Motta, who did fantastic job last season at Spezia.

In the first game without Mihajlovic, Bologna got their first win of the season. On home soil, the Red and Blues beat Fiorentina. Despite conceding the first goal, Bologna responded with goals by Marko Arnautovic, who now tops the Serie A scoring charts with six goals, and Musa Barrow.

Paolo Zanetti's team failed to stop Jose Mourinho's Roma in the previous round on home field, losing 1-2. This defeat, however, was only the second for Empoli in the current championship. After losing on Matchday 1 to Spezia (0-1), the Blues drew four times in a row – with Fiorentina (0-0), Lecce (1-1), Verona (1-1), and Salernitana (2-2). Four points in 6 games – not the worst result, given the dramatic change of pace at Empoli on the eve of the league season.

• Bologna: Adama Sumaro will not play. Nicola Sansone is questionable;
• Empoli: Jean Akpa Akpro, Lorenzo Tonelli will not play. Tommaso Baldanzi, Mattia Destro, Lovro Stubljar, Tyronne Ebuehi are all questionable.

Empoli plays a good balanced soccer, regularly scoring points against teams of equal class. In the upcoming game against Bologna, though, it's not worth loading up on the fact that the Blues will be able to score points. Bologna, as the match against Fiorentina showed, recovered from the sacking of coach Sinisa Mihajlovic and could very well extend their winning streak to two games. Given the phenomenal form of top scorer Marko Arnautovic, Bologna can certainly claim a draw here.

Prediction: Bologna will score once or twice, conceding a goal at best.

Betting options:

• 1X+TU (3.5) for 1.87;
• W1 By 1 Goal for 3.75;
• Correct Score 2-1 for 8.50.

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