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Genoa (9-9-18) at Sassuolo (13-9-14)
Serie A Soccer: Wednesday July 29, 2020 at 1:30 PM (Mapei Stadium)
The Line: Sassuolo +135 / Draw +230 / Genoa +185 -- O/U: 3 Click Here for the Latest Odds
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Sassuolo and Genoa duke it out in Serie A soccer action from the Mapei Stadium on Wednesday afternoon.
Sassuolo comes into this match in 8th place on 48 points with a record of 13 wins, 9 draws and 14 losses following a 2-0 loss to Napoli last time out. In the loss to Napoli, Sassuolo would fall behind in the 8th minute and Sassuolo would think they tied the game in the 32nd, but VAR stepped in to overturn the decision due to offsides in the buildup to the goal. The same thing happened five minutes later as Sassuolo had a second goal taken off of the board. VAR overturned two more goals in the 49th and 61st, leaving Sassuolo hunting for an equalizing goal that never came as Napoli buried an insurance goal in stoppage time. Francesco Caputo leads Sassuolo in scoring with 19 goals while Domenico Berardi has 13 goals with each logging a team-high 7 assists. Jeremie Boga also has 11 goals for Sassuolo this season. Andrea Consiglie is Sassuolo’s top goalkeeper, conceding 1.69 goals per 90 minutes with 4 clean sheets in 29 league appearances this season.
Genoa on the other hand, sits in 17th place on 36 points with a record of 9 wins, 9 draws and 18 losses after a 3-0 loss to Inter Milan in their last match. In the loss to Inter, Genoa had a pair of yellow cards in the first half while Inter Milan took the lead in the 34th. Genoa would have 78% possession in the second half, but couldn’t make use of it as Inter doubled their lead in the 83rd minute and locked up the result with a 3rd goal in second-half stoppage time. Goran Pandev leads Genoa in scoring with 9 goals while Domenico Criscito has 8 goals and Paolo Ghiglione has a team-high 5 assists this season. Mattia Perin is Genoa’s top goalkeeper, conceding 1.63 goals per 90 minutes with 4 clean sheets in 19 league appearances this season.
I get why Sassuolo is favored as the better team and it’s not often that I back Genoa. However, Sassuolo has nothing but pride to play for at this point as they can’t catch 6th and they’re not getting relegated. Sassuolo’s also on a four-game winless run and they have to be a bit bitter after VAR had such a strong presence in their game against Napoli. Genoa needs a win to clinch safety and I’m sure they’d like to get it out of the way as opposed to having to bite their nails on the final matchday. I’ll take a stab at Genoa on the ML here.
Chris’s Pick Genoa ML +185
AUTHOR: Chris Ruffolo
