Sassuolo v Torino – Preview: In-form Granata hope to continue run

Date: 17th April 2015 at 10:12am
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Eighth place Torino will travel to 12th place Sassuolo as the two Serie A sides contest Sunday’s early kickoff.

Torino have been the better of the two sides in recent times. The Granata have dominated Sassuolo when playing the Reggio Emilia team away from Turin.

Sassuolo are winless in the last five meetings in which they have hosted Torino. Fortunately for Sassuolo, they have won their last two Serie A home matches.

Meanwhile, Torino have won their last two away matches and go into this fixture at the Mapei Stadium full of confidence as the Granata are unbeaten in their last three fixtures overall.

Sassuolo’s defence is still missing key players, but last week the team showed grinta despite their 2-1 away loss to Atalanta. A solid performance by centre-halves Francesco Acerbi and Paolo Cannavaro was undone by a weak display by the club’s midfield three.

That poor performance saw central midfielder Simone Missiroli sent off which now results in the Italian missing Sunday’s match with Torino.

Last week against Atalanta, Sassulo coach Eusebio Di Francesco started Simone Zaza on the bench for the second straight week; though the Italian did enter the fray in the 55th minute. Zaza’s form has been poor and despite scoring eight goals this season, the striker hasn’t tallied a goal in two and a half months.

Sassuolo’s defence must keep Torino strikers Fabio Quagliarella and Maxi Lopez in their sights. The pair have combined to score three goals in their last three games for Torino. The two have made a great combination since Lopez’s move from Chievo in January.

Like Sassuolo, Torino will have one player suspended for Sunday’s clash. Omar El Kaddouri will miss out.

While Torino have no significant injury worries, Sassuolo are still covering for several players on the injury list. The most important of the injured players for coach Di Francesco is Sime Vrsaljko, who misses out again this week. His place was taken last weekend by Marcelo Gazzola, who is expected to slot in for Vrsaljko against Torino.

While the flanks have been an area of concern for Sassuolo, Torino’s attacking strength comes through the middle. Francesco Magnanelli will be tasked with helping to prevent those central attacks as he will be the person to fill-in for the previously mentioned Missiroli.

With only a few weeks left, Torino can still make a push for the Europa League. Though it currently looks unlikely they will reach those places, a solid run-in could go a long way to European qualification for a second straight season.

Form Guide: Sassuolo (L-L-W-L-W-L) Torino (W-L-L-W-W-D)

Expected Starting XIs

Sassuolo: Consigli, Gazzola, Cannavaro, Acerbi, Longhi, Brighi, Biondini, Magnanelli, Berardi, Sansone, Zaza

Torino Padelli, Maksimovic, Glik, Moretti, Peres, Vives, Gazzi, Farnerud, Darmian, Quagliarella, Lopez

 

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