Sassuolo’s band of African stars will look to return their team to winning form when they open the fifth round of the 2018/19 Serie A season with a home clash against Empoli on Friday night.
Kevin-Prince Boateng, Alfred Duncan and Khouma Babacar all put in strong performances this past weekend, but it was not enough to prevent the Green and Black falling to a 2-1 defeat at the hands of a Cristiano Ronaldo-inspired Juventus.
Nonetheless, Roberto De Zerbi’s team have still been one of the revelations of the Italian top flight season thus far, and will fancy their chances of picking up a full haul of three points at the MAPEI Stadium against an Empoli side likely to deploy Ismael Bennacer, Afriyie Acquah and Hamed Traore.
The pick of the weekend’s games takes place at the Stadio Comunale Luigi Ferraris on Saturday night when Sampdoria take on Internazionale. Samp are fresh from a 5-0 win over Frosinone this past weekend, while Inter suffered a surprise loss to Parma and will be eager to bounce back. The clash will also see a fascinating battle between Gambian defender Omar Colley and Senegalese attacker Keita Balde.
Saturday also features an afternoon clash between Gervinho’s Parma and Cagliari, while the early-evening game sees Bryan Dabo’s Fiorentina looking for a return to winning form when they welcome Alfred Gomis’ SPAL to Stadio Artemio Franchi.
Sunday opens with an intriguing clash in Turin’s Stadio Olimpico when Torino host title-challengers Napoli. The match is set to feature some powerful West African defenders, with Nicholas N’Koulou and Ola Aina for the hosts, while the Partenopei Gli Azzurri have Senegal’s Kalidou Koulibaly as their rock at the back.
The afternoon games see Roma head to Orji Okonkwo’s Bologna, William Troost-Ekong and Seko Fofana’s Udinese are away to Chievo Verona, and Christian Kouame’s Genoa take on Lazio in Rome, while the early-evening kick-off will feature Franck Kessie looking to inspire AC Milan to a home win over Musa Barrow’s Atalanta.
The round wraps up at Stadio Benito Stirpe on Sunday night with a top v (almost) bottom clash between Juventus and Frosinone. With the Old Lady now having to balance Champions League commitments with their Serie A title chase, it will be interesting to see whether manager Max Allegri shuffles his line-up for a clash with Raman Chisbah’s struggling Frosinone side.
Key match stats
Sampdoria v Internazionale
Head-to-Head, all competitions
Matches played 45
Sampdoria wins 9
Inter wins 22
Draws 14
Frosinone v Juventus
Head-to-Head, all competitions
Matches played 4
Frosinone wins 0
Juve wins 3
Draws 1
AC Milan v Atalanta
Head-to-Head, all competitions
Matches played 38
Milan wins 19
Atalanta wins 8
Draws 11
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