Sassuolo will be looking to put some more breathing space between themselves and the drop zone as they are set to welcome Stefano Colantuono’s Atalanta to the Mapei Stadium for their Serie A clash on Saturday evening.
The hosts come into the game currently enjoying their best run of form since December 2013 as they find themselves on a four match unbeaten run in Serie A.
Atalanta’s nightmare start to the season appears to be improving slightly as they have only fallen to defeat once in their last four outings.
Sassuolo will be hoping to carry their form against the Nerazzurri over from last season as they defeated them 2-0 in both Serie A meetings, whereas Atalanta will be looking to rediscover their form from when the sides met in the Coppa Italia where they reversed the scoreline and earned a 2-0 victory for themselves.
The Neroverdi will be looking to continue their recent run of form and add to their 11 points accumulated in their opening 10 games.
Confidence has been high for Eusebio Di Francesco’s men since they earned a 1-1 draw against Juventus, and they have gone on to earn seven points and score six times in their three games since. Nicola Sansone will be looking to score his first goal of the campaign against the side he inflicted defeat upon by scoring a brace when the sides met last season.
Colantuono’s men, on the other hand, have been rather shy in front of goal this season and have only found the net four times so far; what’s worse is the Nerazzurri have failed to score in seven of their opening 10 matches so far this campaign. They will be hopeful that they can reverse this trend this coming weekend as Sassuolo’s defence has been far from watertight, conceding 15 goals already. This, combined with Germán Denis rediscovering his goalscoring touch in the recent draw with Napoli will give the Dea support hope as they make the trip to Reggio Emilia.
On top of their more recent defensive frailties, Sassuolo have failed to keep a clean sheet in 17 of their last 18 home matches, so you would expect goals are all but guaranteed in this one.
Sassuolo face a lot of injury problems with Simone Zaza being ruled out along with five others. Gianluca Pegolo, Lorenzo Ariaudo, Paolo Cannavaro, Thomas Manfredini and Davide Biondini are ruled out while there are doubts regarding the fitness of Federico Peluso, Alessandro Longhi, Leonardo Pavoletti and Sergio Floccari.
Colantuono will also have to deal without a handful of players as Luca Cigarini and Carlos Carmona are suspended, while Marcelo Estigarribia, Alejandro Gomez and Vlada Avramov are injured.
Expected Starting XIs
Sassuolo: Consigli; Vrsaljko, Terranova, Acerbi, Peluso; Magnanelli, Taider, Missiroli; Berardi, Sansone, Floccari.
Atalanta: Sportiello; Zappacosta, Biava, Benalouane, Drame; D’Alessandro, Baselli, Migliaccio, Moralez; Boakye, Denis.
