Sassuolo vs Hellas Verona Prediction: Lucks out for Lipani

Serie A's Friday night fixture this week comes from Reggio Emilia, where mid-table hosts Sassuolo take on bottom-of-the-table Hellas Verona (19:45 GMT, live on Betfred.com).

Below are my Sassuolo vs Hellas Verona predictions, supported by all the latest team news and match odds, ahead of this Mapei Stadium meeting.

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Team News

Nemanja Matic and Tarik Muharemovic are serving suspensions for Sassuolo, whose injury list contains the names of Edoardo Pieragnolo, Fali Cande (both knee) and Daniel Boloca (muscle).

Football Odds

Hellas Verona also have two suspended players, Gift Orban and Jean-Daniel Akpa Akpro, as well as several injured stars including Suat Serdar, Tomas Sulov (both knee) and Antoine Bernede (unspecified).

Sassuolo vs Hellas Verona Odds

Sassuolo are 4/5 favourites, implying a 55.6% probability of success, while Hellas Verona are 18/5, or a 21.7% chance, with the draw offered at 5/2.

Price Boosts - Sassuolo to Win, Domenico Berardi (SAS) 1+ Shots on Target & 2+ Fouls Committed @ 2/1 5/2

Sassuolo, who are 10th in Serie A, 17 points ahead of bottom-club Verona, have won three of their last four games, only falling to league leaders Inter Milan (0-5) on February 8.

Verona, meanwhile, are winless in 10 matches (D3, L7) since beating Fiorentina 2-1 in Florence on December 14, and they've lost their last two on the road, going down 4-0 at Cagliari on January 31 and 2-1 at Parma last Sunday.

Sassuolo won the reverse fixture 1-0 on October 3 and will expect to do the double over their opponents on Friday.

Today's Football Fixtures

Sassuolo's talismanic forward Domenico Berardi is expected to play a key role again for I Neroverdi.

The 31-year-old has scored five goals and registered three assists in 15 Serie A appearances this season, averaging 0.9 shots on target per 90 minutes.

Berardi hasn't been shy to stick a foot in, either, averaging 1.8 fouls per 90, and he's committed at least two fouls in three of his four games this calendar year.

Starting on the right wing against Verona, he's likely to be in close contact with their left-sided centre-back, Andrias Edmundsson, who has been fouled three times across two Serie A appearances since making a mid-season move from Polish side Wisla Plock.

Player to Receive a Card - Luca Lipani (SAS) @ 9/2

Sassuolo midfielder Luca Lipani is yet to be booked in Serie A this season, despite committing 20 fouls across 12 appearances (six starts), averaging 3.2 per 90.

The 20-year-old recorded five fouls in last Sunday's 2-1 win at Udinese, and with Matic still missing, he'll be required to put another big shift in the middle of midfield on Friday.

I think his luck may run out here, with a referee finally losing patience with the Italy U21 international.