Sassuolo vs Juventus

Sassuolo and Juventus are set to lock horns at the Mapei Stadium in contrasting Serie A circumstances.

It’s been a heavily disappointing start to the season for Sassuolo thus far, with ‘I Neroverdi’ managing just one win in their opening four league matches (L3) en route to accumulating their lowest points tally at this stage of a Serie A campaign since 2017/18. After a 3-1 demolition of Hellas Verona on the eve of the international break reignited Sassuolo’s quest to kickstart a resurgence after back-to-back two-goal margin defeats to Atalanta and Napoli, another shock transpired. Despite taking a two-goal lead inside the first 25 minutes into their last weekend’s trip to newly-promoted Frosinone, Sassuolo slumped to a disastrous 4-2 loss to ex-manager Eusebio Di Francesco, making their current boss Alessio Dionisi the leading candidate to become the first Serie A coach to be relieved of his duties this season.

With high-flying Juventus coming to town, Dionisi would be forgiven for preparing for the worst-case scenario, even though his men ran out 1-0 victors in this corresponding fixture in April. Unfortunately for Sassuolo, Massimiliano Allegri’s men have enjoyed a renaissance this term, racking up three wins and one draw in their opening four Serie A matches to rekindle their hopes of returning to the Scudetto frame after three underwhelming campaigns. Dusan Vlahovic’s second brace of the season fired ‘I Bianconeri’ to a morale-boosting 3-1 win against fierce rivals Lazio in the previous round, setting them up nicely for this trip. But Juventus would be wise not to take anything for granted after failing to keep a clean sheet on their last four Serie A visits to Sassuolo (W2, D1, L1).