AC Milan face off against Sassuolo at San Siro this evening and their mission is simple: win to end 2023 in the right way in order to ease some of the pressure after a difficult recent period.
Sassuolo have earned the reputation of being a bogey side not just for Milan but for other top clubs in Serie A since their debut in the top flight. Milan have played them 21 times across all competitions, winning 11 but losing seven, with three draws.
➤ Against no team Milan are on a current longer streak of consecutive home defeats in Serie A than against Sassuolo (three – equal with Napoli).
➤ Milan have won 10 Serie A matches this season and in each of the last three Serie A seasons they have always exceeded this number of wins in the first 18 league games played of the season: 13 in 2020-21, 12 in 2021-22 and 11 in 2022-23.
➤ Milan have kept nine home clean sheets matches in 2023 in Serie A, they last kept more in a single calendar year in home matches in the competition in 2014 (10 clean sheets in that case).
➤ Sassuolo have only won four games this season and in their Serie A history they have managed only four wins or fewer in the first 18 games played of the campaign twice: in 2022-23 (four) and in 2013/14 (three).
➤ Milan have conceded 64 goals in 2023 in all competitions, a record for the Rossoneri in their history in a single calendar year (since 1929-30).
➤ Sassuolo conceded 71 goals in 2023 in the league, a record for the Neroverdi in a single calendar year in Serie A – their previous record was 70 goals conceded in 2021.
➤ Sassuolo have lost 28 points from winning positions in Serie A in 2023, at least two more than any other top-flight team since the start of the calendar year – 14 of those have been in the current campaign (record in the 2023-24 league).
➤ Olivier Giroud averages a goal every 78 minutes against Sassuolo (three goals overall), his best minutes/goals average in Serie A. The French striker is Milan’s top scorer in 2023 across all competitions (18 goals) and needs one more to match his tally of goals scored in the previous calendar year (19 in 2022).
➤ Domenico Berardi has scored 11 goals and provided seven assists against Milan in Serie A (18 goal involvements vs the Rossoneri). Amongst current players, the only one with a better record against a single opponent since 2004-05 in the competition is Paulo Dybala against Udinese (19 – 11 goals and eight assists).
