Milan face Sassuolo test as recent head-to-head record favours hosts

Milan’s unbeaten start to the Serie A season will be put under pressure when they visit Sassuolo in the sixth round, with the hosts having avoided defeat in seven of their past nine meetings with the Rossoneri.

Opta’s figures highlight Sassuolo’s recent advantage in this fixture, as well as contrasting home and attacking records ahead of the match.

Sassuolo have taken four wins and three draws from those seven unbeaten encounters. They have also gone without defeat in the past three meetings, winning once and drawing twice – their longest unbeaten run against Milan in the competition.

Milan lost their most recent away game against Sassuolo in Serie A, ending a run of eight matches without defeat at the venue, during which they recorded six wins and two draws. The last time Milan suffered successive away defeats against Sassuolo was in 2016, when they lost three in a row.

Sassuolo’s first-half record

Sassuolo have won only one of their last 10 Serie A first halves against Milan, alongside three draws and six defeats.

That sole victory came on 28 November 2021, when Sassuolo recovered from conceding first to win 3-1. Gianluca Scamacca and Domenico Berardi scored for the visitors, with Simon Kjaer also putting through his own goal.

Milan have won three and drawn two of their opening five league matches this season. A result that maintains their unbeaten record in the fixture would see them achieve that feat across their first six matches for the first time since 2022-2023.

However, three draws in the opening six rounds would also be a first for Milan since 2018-2019.

Sassuolo have been particularly effective at home, winning eight of their last 11 Serie A matches there and losing three. Since the beginning of the second half of last season, only Inter, with 10 home wins, and Roma, with nine, have won more league matches on their own ground. Napoli have also recorded eight victories, matching Sassuolo’s total.

Contrasting attacking numbers

Sassuolo and Monza are the only two teams to have scored and conceded at least once in every Serie A match this season.

Sassuolo have previously scored in each of their first six matches of a top-flight campaign only in 2015-2016, 2018-2019 and 2020-2021.

They have attempted 35 shots from outside the penalty area this season. Only Como, with 41, and Juventus, with 38, have had more. Milan, by contrast, have attempted the fewest long-range efforts, with 14 – the same number as Parma.

Milan have the best shot-to-goal conversion rate in Serie A this season at 15.6%, scoring 10 times from 64 attempts. Sassuolo have scored nine goals, one fewer, but have needed 86 shots.

Domenico Berardi has scored 12 goals in 20 Serie A appearances against Milan. Only Silvio Piola, with 22, and Enrico Chiesa, with 14, have scored more against the Rossoneri in the competition’s history. Antonio Di Natale, Carlo Reguzzoni and Stefano Nyers also scored 12.

Diego Moreira has scored three Serie A goals for Milan in 127 minutes across three appearances. Only Mario Balotelli in 2013 and Krzysztof Piatek in 2019 have scored four goals in their first four league appearances for the club in the past 20 years.