Monza vs Sassuolo prediction: ITALY: Serie A betting tips on match 2023-01-21 14:00.
Sandwiched in between two tricky trips to Juventus, a clash against Sassuolo could provide a welcome distraction for Monza, especially as the visitors start the round four places below them in the Serie A (SA) table and just one position above the relegation zone. The home side should therefore see this as the perfect opportunity to record a fifth successive SA match without a loss for the first time in their history (W2, D2).
Despite a 12-point gap between them and the bottom three coming into the round, Monza boss Raffaele Palladino has been keen to taper any lofty expectations for the newly-promoted side and stated following last week’s 3-2 win at Cremonese: “We’re doing well, but our Scudetto remains our survival”. Home form has been vital to the Biancorossi’s success this season, captured by the fact they’ve lost just one of their last six home SA matches (W4, D1) – they opened the scoring in five of those games, too.
Sassuolo are seven points clear of the bottom three despite their perilous position in the table, yet there’s no guarantee that will be a big enough buffer based on their form of no win in seven SA games (D1, L6). Their 16 points accumulated after 18 SA matches is also the lowest they’ve managed since collecting just 14 in the 2013/14 campaign, though they eventually scraped to survival that season.
Manager Alessio Dionisi was at one stage a poster boy for the next generation of Italian coaches, yet there is now pressure on the 42-year-old to keep his job. There’s a fair case to say he’s not had much help from his players who have been architects of their own downfall in recent weeks – there has been a penalty goal in each of Sassuolo's last three league matches, and they conceded two of them.
Key battle: Sassuolo could become the first opponent against which Monza’s Matteo Pessina has scored with three different clubs in SA. But he’d be wise to steer clear of the visitors’ robust midfielder Maxime Lopez who marked his return from injury last week with a sixth yellow card of the season – only two SA players ahead of the round have more.
Hot streak: Currently on four, only once in SA history have Sassuolo suffered five successive league defeats.