18:00 Sassuolo – Udinese Calcio

U.S. Sassuolo Calcio enjoy a surprisingly good season so far, as this team is in the middle of the standings in the Italian Serie A, with eleven points advantage in front of the teams in the relegation zone (5-8-4 19-22).

The Green-Blacks started 2015 with a 2-1 victory over A.C. Milan at “San Siro” (A.C. Milan – U.S. Sassuolo Calcio 1-2 on 06.01.2015), but I have some reasons to doubt that they will manage to do the same in this match against Udinese Calcio.

First of all – the hosts have won only twice in eight games at “Mapei Stadium” so far this season (2-5-1 8-6) and it happened against two teams from the bottom half of the standings (U.S. Sassuolo Calcio – Empoli F.C. 3-1 on 28.10.2014 ; U.S. Sassuolo Calcio – Hellas Verona F.C. 2-1 on 29.11.2014).

Second – Udinese Calcio is a team, whose style is suitable for away games, as the White-Blacks have won points in half of their previous eight away games (2-2-4 6-12).

Federico Peluso (defender) and Saphir Taider (midfielder / 2 goals) are injured and will miss this match for the home team, while the visitors will be without Giovanni Pasquale (defender), Emmanuel Badu (midfielder), Giampiero Pinzi (midfielder) and Luis Muriel (striker).

An interesting fact is, that Udinese Calcio is without a single mistake in the previous two games between these two teams (Udinese Calcio – U.S. Sassuolo Calcio 1-0 on 23.03.2014 ; U.S. Sassuolo Calcio – Udinese Calcio 1-2 on 30.10.2013).