Out-of-form Sassuolo look to avoid losing twice to Torino in a Serie A season for the first time in a decade when they welcome the Turin outfit to Mapei Stadium on Saturday.
The Neroverdi could slip into the league's relegation places in gameweek 24 this weekend, having lost three games on the trot, while the visitors seek to extend their unbeaten run to five.
Match preview
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The New Year has not been kind to Sassuolo, who have lost four of five fixtures in 2024, thus seeing the Emilia-Romagna club slide towards danger.
Having nicked a 1-0 win over Europe-chasing Fiorentina at the start of January, Alessio Dionisi's men hoped that result would change the tide in their survival battle, but the run of losses sees them looking over their shoulder before Saturday's encounter.
Even though the Neroverdi are 15th in the standings, they are a point ahead of Hellas Verona (17th), Cagliari (18th) and Empoli (19th) in a packed bottom six in which five clubs are separated by one point.
Another loss could be damaging in the short term if the sides around them nick points, but the home side hope their history against Torino counts for something this weekend.
Sassuolo have never lost twice to the Turin outfit in the same season since losing both meetings in 2013-14, a run they seek to preserve, having lost the reverse fixture 2-1.
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This season presents Ivan Juric's men with the best opportunity to do the double against Sassuolo in a decade, with the Maroons heading into the fixture undefeated in four, accumulating eight points.
However, Torino's away record this term leaves much to be desired, emphasised by picking up one road victory in six matches, although that win came against relegation-threatened Cagliari.
The 2-1 triumph was the first time the Bull had netted more than one away goal since beating Salernitana 3-0 in September, highlighting the low-scoring nature of Juric's men.
Be that as it may, the form table since the start of December 2023 places Torino seventh and their hosts bottom, indicating that the visitors should back themselves against a Sassuolo side in free fall.
Much of that is down to Juric's side keeping clean sheets aplenty in that period and broadly throughout 2023-24, with 19 goals conceded and 11 shutouts after 22 games, setting the club's best defensive return at this point of any Serie A campaign since the 1992-93 season (17 goals conceded and 11 clean sheets after 22 games).
That stands the away side in good stead for a positive result in Emilia-Romagna, but it remains to be seen if the Bull muster enough in the attacking third to nick maximum points.
Team News
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Domenico Berardi (knee) is not expected back for Sassuolo until March, while Jeremy Toljan and Pedro Obiang are not anticipated to play any part this weekend.
Only Berardi (nine) and Andrea Pinamonti (seven) have scored more Serie A goals for Sassuolo than Kristian Thorstvedt (four), whose strikes have come in 19 league appearances, outdoing last term's return of two in 31 games.
Perr Schuurs' ACL injury rules out the defender for the season, while Alessandro Buongiorno (shoulder) is not expected back until March.
Duvan Zapata (nine goals) and Antonio Sanabria (four) have commendable returns against Sassuolo, and they seek to punish the Neroverdi again on Saturday.
Sassuolo possible starting lineup:
Consigli; Pedersen, Erlic, Ferrari, Doig; Boloca, Henrique; Lauriente, Thorstvedt, Volpato; Pinamonti
Torino possible starting lineup:
Milinkovic-Savic; Tameze, Sazonov, Rodriguez; Bellanova, Ricci, Linetty, Lazaro; Vlasic; Sanabria, Zapata
We say: Sassuolo 0-1 Torino
While a draw could be in the offing, Torino's healthier form should see Juric's side eke out maximum points to complete the league double over Sassuolo.
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