Sassuolo vs Sampdoria prediction: ITALY: Serie A betting tips on match 2023-01-03 11:30.
Coach Alessio Dionisi is backing Domenico Berardi to guide Sassuolo away from trouble in Serie A (SA). The forward has missed large chunks of the 2022/23 season due to injury, but he returned just before the World Cup, and his manager believes he has the ability to drag the club up the table, branding him “as important to us as Kylian Mbappé is for France.”
The international break came at the right time for the Neroverdi, given they had lost three of their last four SA games (D1), failing to score in each defeat. They still have a healthy enough cushion down to the bottom three though, and will be hopeful of extending that as they return to the Mapei Stadium, where they have picked up 11 of their 16 points this season (W3, D2, L2).
The visit of Sampdoria should provide further confidence too, given ‘I Blucerchiati’ have lost five of their seven league fixtures (W1, D1) since the appointment of Dejan Stanković in October. That form has piled the pressure on the manager, who stated “if I am the problem, I can leave” after a 2-0 defeat to Torino in their penultimate match before the pause for the World Cup.
Indeed, Sampdoria’s form has been so bad that a fifth successive defeat here would signal their worst run of league losses for over a decade. They will be desperate to arrest that slump here, as they are now seven points from safety in the SA relegation zone, while their total of six goals this season after failing to score across their last four games is comfortably the lowest in the division.
Players to watch: The aforementioned Berardi has netted eight times, including two hat-tricks, in just 12 appearances against Sampdoria (W6, D3, L3). Ex-Sassuolo striker Francesco Caputo will lead the line for the opposition, and he will be hoping to add to his tally of just two goals in ten appearances against his former employers (W4, D1, L5).
Hot streak: Just five of Sampdoria’s 17 Serie A away fixtures in 2022 saw both teams score.