Sassuolo vs Spezia prediction: ITALY: Serie A betting tips on match 2023-03-16 17:30.
Mid-table Sassuolo once again made a fool of anyone saying their season is already over, as a 4-3 thriller against Roma in the capital made it three wins on the spin. In turn, the Neroverdi made it seven goals already this month, following a second successive match to see them lead by a two-goal margin at the break, making them appear a ‘home banker’ on paper here.
That uncompromising approach can still be their downfall though, with Sassuolo recording just two home clean sheets since the start of September (W4, D1, L5). Yet, with Armand Laurienté scoring Sassuolo’s first goal of the day in all four wins, there is a prime candidate to get them going here, as they look to add further to a dominant H2H home record (W4, L1).
But 17th-placed Spezia also stunned one of Italian football’s traditional heavyweights in the last Serie A (SA) round, as an 87th-minute penalty saw them topple Inter Milan. That result was all the more of a shock when considering that it came after an eight-game winless run, giving Spezia only a third victory of the SA season as pre-match underdogs (D6, L12).
Verona seem like the only team that could leapfrog Spezia any time soon, but a victory here would significantly see them reach 27 points – better than the tallies posted after 27 rounds in each of their previous two SA seasons. On a sour note, however, Spezia are winless in four on the road (D2, L2), despite them scoring inside 25 minutes in three of those trips.
Players to watch: Sassuolo’s Laurienté also plundered a brace within 20 minutes of kick-off at Roma, suggesting that another early goal would set him up for a fifth win from five goalscoring home games this term, especially after netting a decisive opener twice. Speaking of matchwinners, M'Bala Nzola was Spezia’s hero against Inter, and subsequently made it a perfect 10/10 return from penalty kicks across his whole career.
Hot stat: Eight of the nine prior H2Hs saw the home side on the day score before half-time.