Sassuolo and Cremonese, both unbeaten in form and without a win in their last seven Serie A matches, will face each other at the Mapei Stadium on Sunday, looking to end an unwanted run of defeats on matchday 22.

Despite the dismal result, they are level on 23 points, one place adrift in the standings. top flight table And for the time being, it has cleared the bottom three.

Match preview

When Sassuolo beat Atalanta 3-0 in early November and Fiorentina 3-1 early last month, Fabio Grosso’s side had seven points from four straight games, only losing to Como in Sinigaglia in late November.

The Neroverdi went winless in seven games in Serie A, during which they suffered four defeats, including the last three against Juventus, Roma and Napoli, and few would have predicted the subsequent downturn in Emilia-Romagna.

The fixture schedule has not been kind to Fabio Grosso’s side in the last three games, in which they have lost to the teams mentioned above and failed to score, but have conceded six goals against three of the top five teams in the division, 3-0, 2-0 and 1-0.

They have maintained their good form by challenging familiar AC Milan, but Grosso’s side have failed to score in four of their six league games since a 2-2 draw at San Siro.

Despite a seven-game winless streak, the Neroverdi are still five points out of danger. But if the results don’t improve quickly, they start to drop their shoulders.

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If anyone thought Sassuolo have been reluctant to score goals in recent weeks, Cremonese have struggled even more in front of goal, with Davide Nicola’s side having scored in just one of their last seven Serie A games.

The same promoted team has a growing problem scoring goals, having drawn against Lazio and Hellas Verona (both 0-0), and failed to score against Turin (1-0), Napoli (2-0), Fiorentina (1-0) and Juventus (5-0).

These problems become even more apparent when you consider that La Cremo have scored in nine of their last 10 league games, including a 1-0 defeat to Pisa, another promoted team, in early November, and failed to score in three of their opening 14 games.

One of Cremonese’s 11 goals in the opening 14 matches came in a come-from-behind 3-2 win over Neroverdi in Lombardy in August.

With 10 goals in the last two Serie A competitions (Sassuolo won 3-2 in March 2023) and 17 goals in the last four, it remains to be seen whether these goal-sparing teams will have their customary goal fest on Sunday.

Sassuolo Serie A form:

Cremonese Serie A Form:

team news

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Grosso’s side had no notable injury problems against Napoli last week, but the Neroverdi have a number of issues to address ahead of Sunday.

Ismael Kone will be valued, but Domenico Berardi, Fali Cande, Christian Volpato, Edoardo Pieragnolo, Daniel Boroka and Christian Thorstvedt are expected to be absent.

In the absence of Berardi, who has been involved in seven of Sassuolo’s 23 goals (4 goals and 3 assists), the Emilia Romagna team will rely on Andrea Pinamonti (4 goals and 2 assists) to take on the role of the host team.

However, the forward’s four league goals have come on the road, leaving manager Grosso scratching his head as he tries to find a solution to win the game.

Despite their recent lack of form in front of goal, Cremonese have had no problems overall, with Federico Bonazzoli scoring four of his five league goals against Cremona and Jamie Vardy scoring two of his five away goals.

Both forwards are undoubtedly the visitors’ biggest threat, but Jari Vandeput provides a creative solution and his four assists are bettered by only four players in the league: Nico Paz, Jesus Rodríguez (both six goals), Federico DiMarco and Nicolo Barella (both five goals).

Unlike the hosts, Cremonese don’t have too many injury problems and Jeremy Sarmiento will be valued, while Antonio Sanabria and Martin Paello are likely to be sidelined.

Sassuolo’s expected starting lineup:

Muric. Walkiewicz, Isdes, Muharemovic, Doig. Lipani, Matic, Vranks. Fadera, Pinamonti, Lauriente

Candidates for Cremona’s starting lineup:

Audero. Ceccherini, Basillotto, Bianchetti. Barbieri, Bond, Grassi, Vendeput, Terracciano. Vardy Bonazzoli

We say: Sassuolo 0-0 Cremonese

Sassuolo and Cremonese scored goals in their recent encounters, but those teams had struggled to score goals before Sunday.

As a result, a stalemate between these two struggling teams could happen this weekend.

Click here for data analysis including the most likely outcome, scoreline and more for this match.