Lazio will travel to Reggio Emilia this Sunday to face Sassuolo in the 18th round of the 2022/23 Serie A season.
Venue: Mapei Stadium – Città del Tricolore (Reggio Emilia)
Key Statistics
Sassuolo are winless in their last six games (D1, L5).
They have not kept a clean sheet in their last nine league games.
Lazio are winless in their last three Serie A games (D1, L2).
They have kept just two clean sheets in their last eight games in all competitions.
Twelve (80%) of Lazio’s Serie A goals conceded this term have come after half-time.
Head to head
In 18 previous meetings between both sides, Lazio have ten wins while Sassuolo have five wins.
Latest performances in all competitions
Sassuolo: L-L-L-L-L
Lazio: D-L-L-W-W
Sassuolo
Sassuolo’s start to 2023 has been miserable, with a pair of losses to Sampdoria and Fiorentina seeing them fail to score a goal from open play.
The hosts, celebrating their tenth year in the Italian top flight this year, would have hoped for a better start. But what has followed is a continuation of their form towards the end of last year.
And so the Neroverdi come into this tie without a league win in their last six games, with five losses and one draw to show during that run.
This has left Alessio Dionisi’s men in the bottom five yet a reasonably comfortable seven points clear of danger.
They cannot relax, though, as a seven-point lead from the bottom can be wiped out with two poor results. So, the Neroverdi will want to halt that poor run of results here against a Lazio side they have defeated in each of the last two head-to-heads at home.
Possible Sassuolo starting line-up
Gianluca Pegolo, Jeremy Toljan, Martin Erlic, Gianmarco Ferrari, Rogério, Davide Frattesi, Matheus Henrique, Hamed Junior Traorè, Domenico Berardi, Agustín Álvarez, Armand Lauriente.
Injured: Andrea Consigli, Andrea Pinamonti
Doubtful: Maxime Lopez
Suspended: None
Lazio
Like their hosts, Lazio have also had a bad start this year, losing one and drawing the other game they have played in 2023.
That has left them sitting three points behind Inter Milan in fourth position. However, they are still within distance of the Champions League spots and need not panic just yet.
However, after most recently letting a two-goal lead slip at home to mid-table Empoli (D 2-2), they will have to tighten up to avoid going four games without a win.
That recent collapse led coach Maurizio Sarri to identify “great difficulty at the mental level” as the main culprit rather than physical weakness. He hopes his players can respond better this time, as they would have enjoyed a week of rest before this game.
Possible Lazio starting line-up
Ivan Provedel, Elseid Hysaj, Nicolò Casale, Alessio Romagnoli, Adam Marusic, Sergej Milinkovic-Savic, Danilo Cataldi, Luis Alberto, Felipe Anderson, Ciro Immobile, Mattia Zaccagni.
Injured: Mario Gila
Doubtful: None
Suspended: Manuel Lazzari
Odds
Prediction
Sassuolo 1-3 Lazio