Sassuolo host Palermo at the Mapei Stadium in Serie A on Sunday afternoon with both teams hoping to bounce back from midweek defeats.
Both sides incidentally lost 2-0 at home in the midweek round of fixtures to Roma and AC Milan respectively.
The hosts will be desperate for victory after a five game winless streak, which has seen Eusebio Di Francesco’s side almost drop out of European contention after a very promising start to the season.
Palermo have already had four different coaches this season and whilst their recent form is better than their opponents (seven points out of a possible 15), Giovanni Tedesco’s team are struggling down in 15th position just six points above the relegation zone.
The two sides have only ever faced each other three times in the league before as Palermo were relegated to Serie B in 2013/14 when Sassuolo were promoted to Serie A.
Punters should not expect too many goals either as the Neroverdi have the fourth joint worst attack at home and Palermo the joint second worst in the league away from home.
Di Francesco’s side were not particularly proactive in the January transfer window and only signed the young midfield starlet Stefano Sensi, who has gone back to his former club Cesena on loan as well as former Avellino striker Marcelo Trotta.
Palermo on the other hand spent almost €9 million on the likes of Bryan Cristante and Norbert Balogh.
Emmanuele Terranova and Karim Laribi are in doubt for the clash but midfielder Mato Jajalo will definitely not feature for the Sicilian side as he is suspended after picking up too many yellow cards.
Form Guide: Sassuolo (L-D-L-D-L) Palermo (L-D-W-L-W)
Expected Starting XIs
Sassuolo: Consigli; Peluso, Cannavaro, Acerbi, Vrsjalko; Duncan, , Magnanelli, Missiroli; Sansone, Trotta, Berardi
Palermo: Sorrentino; Lazaar, Goldaniga, Gonzalez, Struna; Chochev, Cristante, Hiljemark, Quaison, Gilardino, Vazquez
Infographic Source: www.sporticos.com
Source: forzaitalianfootball.com