Lazio vs Sassuolo 11/07/20

11 July 2020

Lazio and Sassuolo come face-to-face at the Stadio Olimpico in what promises to be a high-scoring Serie A contest. Five of their last seven top-flight H2H clashes have seen over 2.5 goals and both teams on the scoresheet, with all seven seeing over 1.5 goals in one half.

Lazio’s hopes of winning the title have faded away since the resumption of football, although they’ve been an exciting team to watch. Indeed, the hosts have lost three of five Serie A fixtures in the post-pandemic period (W2), with each of those matches featuring at least one goal in both hales and over 2.5 goals in total. Also, a 3-0 defeat to AC Milan last weekend has marked Lazio’s first home loss in Serie A this season (W12, D3), and it’s been only the third time in 16 league home games that they’ve conceded over 1.5 goals. Although the ‘Biancocelesti’ boast the division’s second-best home defense (14 goals conceded), they seem unlikely to keep a clean sheet here. Simone Inzaghi’s men have failed to shut out Sassuolo in all six of their top-flight H2Hs held here, shipping over 1.5 goals on four of those occasions.

Meanwhile, the visitors have turned their fortunes around since the league’s restart in June, avoiding defeat in all five Serie A matches since football returned to action (W3, D2). Notably, free-scoring Sassuolo have found the net in nine of ten halves of Serie A action during that five-game sequence, bagging three or more goals on four of those occasions. Importantly, ten of the 15 goals they scored across those fixtures came after the break (66.67%), which has been the case with the majority (63.64%) of the Serie A away goals they’ve netted so far (14/22). But, slow starts have often troubled the ‘Neroverdi’ on the road this season, as they’ve shipped the opening goal (if any) in nine of 16 Serie A trips so far (56.25%).