Serie A

Sassuolo in the hunt for points against AC Milan

At the Mapei Stadium, Sassuolo will be looking for a win that hasn’t come their way for over a month. Instead, AC Milan will want a sixth straight league win to tie down second spot

25 points in the table, 15 less than last season at this point, and second-bottom: Sassuolo, on the back of draws with relegation rivals Udinese and Salernitana, welcome AC Milan with the aim of trying to improve their situation in the table, knowing that they face Lecce next week. The Rossoneri, however, are in their best form of the season and will want to continue on their path to secure second place, going into next Monday's derby against Inter in the best possible shape.

DID YOU KNOW?

AC Milan have collected 68 points after 31 matches played this Serie A campaign; one more than the 67 they obtained at this stage in 2021/22, when they won the Scudetto at the end of the season. In the three points per win era, only in 2003/04 have the Rossoneri collected more than 70 points after 32 games played in a single season in the Italian top-flight (79). AC Milan are the team that have registered the highest number of shots on target in 2024 in Serie A (80). In this period, only Lazio (44), Monza (43), Empoli (42) and Salernitana (38) have had fewer than Sassulo (45). AC Milan (nine) and Sassuolo (eight) are the two teams that have conceded the most goals from outside the area in this Serie A season. Across the big five European leagues in 2023/24, only Burnley (13), Sheffield United (11) and Darmstadt (10) have conceded more from outside the box (Borussia Mönchengladbach also on nine).

HEAD-TO-HEAD

Sassuolo have scored 30 goals against AC Milan in Serie A; only against Genoa (34) have they netted more in the Italian top-flight; however, 16 of those goals came in the first seven matches, while they’ve scored 14 goals in the last 14. After winning their first three Serie A home matches against AC Milan between 2014 and 2016, Sassuolo have collected just one point in their last seven matches at MAPEI Stadium against them; only against Napoli (eight) are the Neroverdi on a longer streak of home matches without winning than against the Rossoneri (seven) in the Italian top-flight.

PLAYERS

Sassuolo’s Nedim Bajrami has scored more Serie A goals against AC Milan than against any other opponent (2), while he scored and assisted last time out in the competition against Salernitana. Only once has he scored in two games in a row in the league, doing so between December 2021 and January 2022 when he played for Empoli (in that case, the first was against Milan). In the last Serie A matchday against Lecce, Christian Pulisic scored his 10th goal in this season in the Italian top-flight: excluding penalties, the last AC Milan midfielder to score more than 10 goals in a single Serie A campaign was Kaká in 2005 /06 (11).

DISCIPLINE

Suspended: none Cautioned: Pedersen, Laurientè (Sassuolo); Musah, Thiaw, Tomori (Milan)

REFEREE

Pairetto (Rossi-Laudato) IV: Rapuano, VAR: Aureliano, AVAR: Di Paolo

UPCOMING MATCHES IN SERIE A TIM

Sassuolo-Lecce (Sunday 21 April, 12:30 CEST) Milan-Inter (Monday 22 April, ore 20:45 CEST) (Photo LaPresse)