27 October 2015
Sassuolo coach Eusebio Di Francesco says he is expecting a difficult match when his side entertain the Bianconeri on Wednesday evening.
Massimiliano Allegri’s men enter the encounter with three points fewer than their hosts and Di Francesco acknowledged that they needed to be on their toes against a team looking to register back-to-back league victories for the first time this season.
Speaking to journalists this afternoon, the 46-year-old began: “Juventus will come here looking to win as usual, but especially this year as they bid to make up ground in the league table.
“They’ve plenty of top players who are in good shape. I’ve been impressed with the way they’ve played in recent fixtures, both in terms of taking the game to their opponents and their physicality.
“They’re a compact outfit and it will be a tough match, but we’ll give it a good go as we did against Milan at the San Siro. However, we’ll need to keep concentration high during set pieces, especially at free kicks.”
Despite their weakness at defending dead-ball situations (conceding four times already from corners – a league high shared with Empoli), the Neroverdi are unbeaten at home this term and will look to add to their tally of eight points from the Mapei Stadium tomorrow evening.
“We’re training hard and playing in front of a full house. As a result we’re even more motivated to get a positive result.”
His team will have to do so without their top goalscorer over the last two seasons, Simone Zaza, who now dons the black and white of Juventus.
Turning his attentions to the Italy international striker, Di Francesco said: “Simone’s played well in the last few games, he puts himself about even when he doesn’t score. If he’s going to find the target tomorrow, let’s hope it’s an own goal!”
