A last-gasp Diego Llorente strike gave Roma a point – and also saw them register a joint league-high seventh second-half injury-time goal this season – in their last Serie A match against Fiorentina (2-2), as the Giallorossi moved to within three points of the top four. They’ve had quite the resurgence under new boss Daniele De Rossi, and the club legend marked his almost two-month spell in charge with progression to the UEFA Europa League quarter-finals as his men eliminated Brighton & Hove Albion 4-1 on aggregate.
That was thanks to an impressive 4-0 home win in their last outing at the Stadio Olimpico, where Roma have won five of their six competitive outings under their new head coach, with the only side to have beaten them here in that time being runaway league leaders Inter Milan. Don’t be surprised if there is another busy first-half on Sunday evening, as there have been at least two goals scored before the break in each of Roma’s last five Serie A games on their own patch.
Despite having suffered a demoralising 1-0 defeat in the relegation six-pointer against Hellas Verona at the beginning of March, and lost talisman Domenico Berardi for at least the rest of the campaign due to injury in his first match at the helm, head coach Davide Ballardini has managed to get a tune out of Sassuolo, as they celebrated a vital 1-0 victory over Frosinone last time out.
The visitors still start this round in the relegation zone, but with only a two-point deficit to safety. Sassuolo’s away form is one of the biggest reasons behind their current shortcomings however, as they have lost seven consecutive competitive encounters on their travels, failing to score in five of those.
Players to watch: Paulo Dybala has avoided defeat in each of his 11 Serie A scoring appearances (W10, D1), while Sassuolo will hope that Armand Laurienté remembers his last performance here against Roma, as his two first-half goals and one assist in the second period contributed to a dramatic 4-3 win.
Hot stat: Eight of the last nine H2Hs have seen both teams score, with five of those matches producing at least four goals.
