Hellas Verona will look to continue their good form as they travel to Sassuolo in the Serie A. Verona’s start this year is in sharp contrast to previous year. They required a play-off to keep themselves out of the bottom division.
Preview (Sassuolo vs. Hellas Verona)
However, Sassuolo have had a very unsettling start centered on the ambiguity surrounding Domenico Berardi’s future. Berardi hasn’t played for the Neroverdi team in either of their first two games after declaring his wish to depart. However, despite ties to Juventus, the Bianconeri never made an offer prior to Sassuolo’s self-imposed deadline. Therefore it appears that Berardi will stay. But in his absence, Alessio Dionisi’s team has struggled. They have lost their opening two Serie A contests for the first time in ten years. Both losses were by a score of 2-0. They were unfortunate to lose to Atalanta in the final seven minutes of the game. Dionisi watched his team get destroyed by champions Napoli last weekend.
The xG stats, which read 2.91 to 0.08, imply that a 2-0 victory was flattering to a Sassuolo team that was unable to approach the Partenopei. Despite Verona finishing comfortably ahead of them last season, the two teams currently could not be further apart as a result of the visitors’ outstanding start. Verona has won its first two games for the second time ever in the top division. The one other time they’ve done it, in the 1984–85 season, they went on to win the Scudetto. Although that is a good sign, a title push is unlikely to materialize, especially in light of their narrow escape from defeat the previous season.
In this very stadium in Reggio Emilia, Cyril Ngonge scored twice to help them defeat Spezia 3-1. The Frenchman comes into this weekend in excellent form. The team’s season began with a 1-0 success away against Empoli. Manager Marco Baroni will be hoping they can maintain their better road form. Verona just avoided the drop last season by earning just 10 of a possible 57 points away from home. It was the second-worst in the division.
Team News
Unless there are any last-minute changes regarding his future, Dionisi might reintegrate Berardi into the Sassuolo team. Marcus Pedersen could start at full-back after making his debut last weekend as a substitute for loanee Matias Vina. As a result of the club allowing the full-back quartet of Georgios Kyriakopoulos, Rogerio, and Murt Muldur to go during the summer, Pedersen and Vina have been added. After moving from Frosinone to Naples, Daniel Boloca made his complete debut, but they will be missing fellow midfielders Maxime Lopez and Pedro Obiang because of suspension and injury.
Isak Hien will not play for Verona in this match after he was dismissed late in Verona’s victory against Roma last weekend. Riccardo Saponara and Suat Serdar will also be hoping for complete debuts, along with recent additions Ondrej Duda and Federico Bonazzoli. However, Baroni is concerned about a number of injuries, including those to Jayden Braaf, Thomas Henry, Ajdin Hrustic, and Darko Lazovic.
Sassuolo 0 – 0 Hellas Verona
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