Giacomo Raspadori and Gianluca Scamacca scored twice as Sassuolo ran riot away to 10-man Empoli, as Mattia Viti managed to get two yellow cards in under a minute.
The Tuscans were fresh from a 3-3 thriller away to Lazio, having beaten several of the big clubs already this season, but Sebastiano Luperto and Filippo Bandinelli were suspended, with Fabiano Parisi and Nicolas Haas injured. Sassuolo continued to have a lengthy absentee list, including Francesco Magnanelli, Federico Peluso, Filip Djuricic, Matheus Henrique and Junior Hamed Traore.
This was a special game for Sassuolo coach Alessio Dionisi, who took Empoli to promotion winning the Serie B title last season.
It was a very aggressive start from the visitors, with Guglielmo Vicario’s gloves stung by Domenico Berardi and Harroui, while Giacomo Raspadori’s curler was inches wide.
Liam Henderson was clumsy in his attempted interception on Berardi and the referee pointed to the spot. Berardi converted himself with a penalty straight down the middle to make that early pressure count.
Raspadori curled inches past the far top corner from the edge of the box just moments later, but Empoli equalised with their first real attempt.
Henderson made up for his earlier error by being alert to fire in from 12 yards when Maxime Lopez failed to intercept an Andrea Pinamonti pull-back from the by-line.
Henderson turned a similar effort over the bar, then Jeremy Toljan saw his looping volley from a corner cleared off the line by Mattia Viti.
Sassuolo restored their advantage as Raspadori cut inside on his right-foot for a snooker shot into the far bottom corner from the edge of the box.
Andrea Consigli parried a Pinamonti strike at the near post, while Berardi’s scuffed effort skimmed the far post and a Pinamonti header floated just over.
It got more difficult for Empoli, with Viti receiving two yellow cards in the space of 60 seconds for fouls on Berardi.
Empoli were furious at the third goal, feeling Lorenzo Tonelli was fouled when Raspadori won back possession, Berardi rolling across from the right for unmarked substitute Gianluca Scamacca to score from 10 yards.
Scamacca was involved again moments later, his strike fingertipped onto the woodwork by Vicario, but the goalkeeper could do nothing on a Raspadori follow-up.
Consigli still needed a save on Henderson after Toljan’s error, Cutrone firing the rebound onto the side-netting, but Sassuolo completed the rout in stoppages with Frattesi rolling across for a Scamacca tap-in.
Empoli 1-5 Sassuolo
Berardi pen 13 (S), Henderson 16 (E), Raspadori 24, 71 (S), Scamacca 67, 92 (S)
Sent off: Viti 60 (E)
This trio of Berardi, Scamacca and Raspadori should really give Mancini something to think about. They seem to gel really well and they score goals.