Seeking to follow up a sensational victory last weekend, Sassuolo host in-form Fiorentina at the Mapei Stadium in Serie A's Saturday evening kickoff.
The clubs meet with the hosts having slain Inter at San Siro but without a home league win since mid-December, while the Viola visit Reggio-Emilia on the back of three straight wins.
Match preview
© Reuters
Amid a week of setbacks for Calcio's established order, it was Sassuolo's merited win away to the champions which made most observers sit up and take notice - particularly for the incredible events of the first half.
Thanks to goals from international teammates Giacomo Raspadori and Gianluca Scamacca - the latter heavily tipped to join Inter in the summer - Alessio Dionisi's side went two up before the half-hour mark and almost went in at the interval with a three-goal advantage when Domenico Berardi then thumped the woodwork.
The Neroverdi's loyal captain stands alongside Mohamed Salah in having produced double figures for both goals and assists across Europe's top five leagues this term and has also been involved in the most sequences ending in shots of any Serie A player - a remarkable 158.
Despite being unable to extend his personal goal tally at San Siro, his side's 2-0 win not only halted a streak of 19 league games without a clean sheet, but also put them level on points with 10th-placed Torino in the pursuit of a top-half finish.
However, as Sassuolo prepare to return to home soil, they will be aware of a winless run at the Mapei Stadium which stretches across their last four games there in the league - representing the club's worst such streak since late 2018.
It is just as well, then, that precedent is in their favour this weekend, as the Emilians have lost only one of their last eight Serie A encounters with Fiorentina in Serie A following a 2-2 away draw earlier this season.
© Reuters
Having succeeded Saturday's opponents as Serie A's entertainers - particularly with fellow attacking advocates Atalanta currently off the boil - Fiorentina (with 57%) join Sassuolo as one of the top four teams in Serie A's possession rankings.
Not only do they like to dictate the play either home or away, under the 'forward first' principles of Vincenzo Italiano, the Viola are also only three goals away from equalling their entire total from the 2020-21 campaign after a 1-0 win over Atalanta last weekend.
Having transformed the Tuscan club's outlook - with the considerable aid of now-departed striker Dusan Vlahovic - Italiano has led his side to a tally of 42 points so far this term - already two more than in the whole of last season.
Their victory over La Dea - in which opposing manager Gian Piero Gasperini was sent off for disputing a VAR call that ruled out an apparent equaliser - sees seventh-placed Fiorentina now just two points behind the Bergamo side, and only five adrift of the Champions League places with a game in hand on several sides above them.
In addition to their vibrant league form, they also have a Coppa Italia semi-final first leg clash with bitter rivals Juventus to look forward to next week - and Vlahovic is among several Viola old boys sure to receive a 'warm' welcome on Wednesday night - but first they must concentrate on taming Sassuolo.
- W
- L
- D
- L
- D
- W
- W
- D
- L
- L
- D
- W
- L
- W
- D
- L
- W
- W
- W
- D
- L
- W
- W
- W
Team News
© Reuters
After beating the champions in their own back yard, Alessio Dionisi will be loath to make too many changes to his Sassuolo side, but defensive mainstay Gian Marco Ferrari is now back from suspension and will return at Kaan Ayhan's expense.
The latter is among several struggling with injury ahead of Fiorentina's arrival, as Jeremy Toljan and Filip Djuricic are both expected to remain sidelined on Saturday.
In the hosts' formidable front line, Gianluca Scamacca and Giacomo Raspadori should join skipper Domenico Berardi, who has previously scored eight times against Fiorentina in Serie A.
Meanwhile, much of the visitors' attacking hopes are pinned on the shoulders of Krzysztof Piatek, who has scored in both of his last two league matches - including the winner last week. However, the former Milan striker last found the net in three games on the spin over three years ago.
Vincenzo Italiano will be forced to make a change to his back four, as Nikola Milenkovic is suspended due to yellow card accumulation, so Lucas Martinez Quarta will most likely to step in to central defence alongside Igor.
Tipped to make his loan deal permanent in the summer, Uruguayan midfielder Lucas Torreira is a doubt for Fiorentina, but Pietro Terracciano should return from a bout of tonsillitis to replace former number one Bartlomiej Dragowski in goal.
Sassuolo possible starting lineup:
Consigli; Muldur, Chiriches, Ferrari, Kyriakopoulos; Lopez, Frattesi; Berardi, Raspadori, Traore; Scamacca
Fiorentina possible starting lineup:
Terracciano; Odriozola, Martinez Quarta, Igor, Biraghi; Bonaventura, Amrabat, Duncan; Saponara, Piatek, Gonzalez
We say: Sassuolo 1-1 Fiorentina
There was nothing to split the sides when Fiorentina came back to secure a 2-2 draw in December, and the spoils may be shared once again between two enterprising teams.
Though sure to be lifted by their brilliant performance last week, Sassuolo have won just three of their 13 home games in Serie A, while their visitors certainly travel better than they used to do, so will pick up at least a point.
Top tip
Data Analysis
Our analysis of all available data, including recent performances and player stats up until an hour before kickoff, suggested the most likely outcome of this match was a Sassuolo win with a probability of 41.44%. A win for Fiorentina had a probability of 34.93% and a draw had a probability of 23.6%.
The most likely scoreline for a Sassuolo win was 2-1 with a probability of 8.76%. The next most likely scorelines for that outcome were 1-0 (7.15%) and 2-0 (5.87%). The likeliest Fiorentina win was 1-2 (7.96%), while for a drawn scoreline it was 1-1 (10.66%). The actual scoreline of 2-1 was predicted with an 8.8% likelihood. Our data analysis correctly predicted a 2-1 win for Sassuolo in this match.
