Three places and four points separate Sassuolo and Frosinone in the Serie A standings heading into gameweek 28's encounter at the MAPEI Stadium on Saturday.
The second-bottom home side have lost four games in succession, and the visitors' wretched run was halted with last weekend's point against Lecce.
Match preview
Davide Ballardini could not inspire an immediate turnaround for Sassuolo, who lost last weekend's relegation six-pointer at Hellas Verona.
The 1-0 loss was the Emilia-Romagna club's fourth consecutive defeat and 17th in Serie A this term, a joint-high with cellar-dwelling Salernitana, and they hope to avoid an 18th on Ballardini's home debut this weekend.
Sassuolo's head coach has been tasked with avoiding relegation this term, and the first step toward that goal is to improve the Neroverdi's wretched goals conceded record that has them on 55 goals against — only this weekend's opponent (56) have allowed more — underscored by zero clean sheets in their last nine.
Their form at the Mapei has been underwhelming all season, with the defeats against Empoli (3-2) and Napoli (6-1) a let-down after securing four points from six at the start of February.
Having lost only one of their five against this weekend's opponent, Sassuolo hope previous results throw some doubt into Frosinone before Saturday's encounter.
However, the away side should be encouraged by the last game between the sides in which Eusebio Di Francesco's men defeated the Neroverdi 4-2.
A similar result in Reggio Emilia sees Frosinone do the double over Sassuolo, something not achieved by the Canaries since the 2015-16 season vs Empoli and Hellas Verona.
However, the greatest threat to that is the away side's awful road record, underscored by picking up just three points on their travels this term – only Almeria and Granada (both with two) have collected fewer in away matches.
Strikingly, Frosinone's 12 goals in 13 away games is not the fewest in Serie A, but Di Francesco's men conceding 33 times on their travels outdoes every side in the Italian top division.
That points to where the issues are for the club, with more goals conceded than any other side in the league, and they hope to halt 12 games without a shutout in Reggio Emilia.
Team News
Mattia Viti is doubtful, but Domenico Berardi has played his last match for Sassuolo in 2023-24 after suffering a serious knee injury last weekend.
Andrea Pinamonti netted a brace in the reverse fixture, and the striker could hit double digits for the second time in three seasons with his next league goal.
Luca Mazzitelli also netted twice in the reverse fixture as Frosinone turned a two-goal deficit into a 4-2 triumph.
Di Francesco has several injuries to deal with, with Mateus Lusuardi, Anthony Oyono and Sergio Kalaj doubtful, while Abdou Harroui (muscle), Kevin Bonifazi (knee) and Riccardo Marchizza (tendon) are expected to miss out.
Sassuolo possible starting lineup:
Consigli; Pedersen, Ferrari, Erlic, Doig; Boloca, Henrique; Lauriente, Thorstvedt, Castillejo; Pinamonti
Frosinone possible starting lineup:
Cerofolini; Zortea, Okoli, Romagnoli, Valeri; Brescianini, Mazzitelli, Gelli; Soule, Cheddira, Carvalho
We say: Sassuolo 1-0 Frosinone
The home side could eke out maximum points on Saturday, thus cutting Frosinone's four-point advantage to one.
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.
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