13th placed Sassuolo play host to Monza, 11th, in the only Serie A fixture on the schedule on Friday night, where Alessio Dionisi will have to make do without one of his key players in Armand Lauriente, who has been ruled out for the rest of the season through injury.
The Frenchman had chipped in with seven goals and six assists in the first 28 games of his Serie A career after joining from Lorient in the summer, but will be unavailable for Sassuolo’s upcoming fixtures, and will likely be replaced by Nedim Bajrami in the meantime.
Elsewhere, Dionisi could give the nod to Andrea Piamonti at centre-forward, who could come in for Gregoire Defrel, who started in the most recent game against Inter.
Sassuolo are expected to name an unchanged midfield of Mattheus Henrique, Maxime Lopez and Davide Frattesi.
For Raffaele Palladino and Monza, the injury and suspension lists are both all clear, meaning that a full squad should be available for the trip to the Mapei Stadium and the coach is expected to name a similar team to the one that inflicted a 2-0 defeat upon the league champions Napoli last weekend.
Monza will look to build on their impressive away form over the course of the calendar year, as only Napoli have picked up more points on the road since the beginning of 2023.
Kick off is set for 19.45 UK time.
Sassuolo (4-3-3): Consigli; Toljan, Erlic, Ruan, Rogerio; Frattesi, Lopez, Henrique; Berardi, Pinamonti, Bjhrami
Monza (3-4-2-1): Di Gregorio; Izzo, Marlon, Caldirola; Ciurria, Sensi, Rovella, C Augusto; Caprari, Pessina; Mota.