Roma – Sassuolo

Roma hosts Sassuolo at the Stadio Olimpico in a game from the third round of the Italian Serie A. The Wolves are looking for their first win for the season after two consecutive draws in the first two rounds.

Roma’s new manager Paulo Fonseca is still without a win since he was appointed at the club in the summer. The former head coach of Shakhtar Donetsk is still unbeaten as well. But isn’t it the time for a first win? Most certainly it is.

In the previous round Roma faced Lazio at the Olimpico in the big derby of the capital. Aleksandar Kolarov opened the score for the Wolves from a penalty kick, but Luis Alberto equalised for Lazio after the halftime break.

We can say that Paulo Fonseca is still trying to find the right starting eleven for his team. He trusts young stars as Nicolo Zaniolo, Justin Kluivert and Cengiz Under, while against Lazio the former Argentine international Javier Pastore entered the pitch from the bench. Meanwhile the English centre back Chris Smalling, who arrived at Roma from Manchester United, could make his official debut on Sunday.

In the same time Sassuolo are 8th in the Serie A standings with 3 points won so far. They kicked off their season with a loss against Torino, but in the second round Roberto De Zerbi’s boys bounced back and crushed Sampdoria with 4-1 at home. Domenico Berardi showed his talents and scored a hattrick at the MAPEI Stadium, while Hamed Traore scored one more for the hosts.

Maybe it’s really time for Roma to enjoy their first win under the management of Paulo Fonseca. The Portuguese tactician is also aware that if he doesn’t win again, he would have to deal with a huge pressure. But let’s see how Sassuolo will react to Roma’s ambition for first three points.