Serie A Matchday 9 pairs mid table Sassuolo against unbeaten Lazio at the Mapei Stadium on 27 October 2026 and the gap between these two sides is about as wide as it looks. Lazio sit second with 22 points from eight games, level with Inter and enjoying the best start the club has managed in the three points era, with just five goals conceded all season, the best defensive record in the division. Sassuolo are 14th with eight points and while a positive home result would pull them clear of the bottom half, the more pressing question is whether Aquilani has enough bodies to make Gattuso's side uncomfortable for 90 minutes.
There is not much direct data between the two managers given how recently Aquilani took charge but Gattuso's history against Sassuolo from earlier roles tells a consistent story: compact, high intensity setups designed to squeeze the Neroverdi's creative outlets. Lazio are likely to follow similar patterns here.
Sassuolo come in after a rough patch with just one win from their last five. A 2-4 defeat to Frosinone and a 0-2 loss at Como on 24 October 2026 sum up the problem neatly: too easy to score against at the back. Lazio arrive with four wins from five, including a 3-0 dismantling of Juventus on 18 October 2026 and a 2-1 win over Parma on matchday 8 and they have been just as dangerous away from the Olimpico as at home.
The injury situation complicates things on both sides. Sassuolo are without Ismaël Koné (broken ankle), Jay Idzes (thigh), Daniel Boloca (knee) and Fedde Leysen (long term knee), which hollows out the midfield and leaves the defence thin, forcing Aquilani to patch together his central areas with less experienced options. Lazio's list is shorter but no less disruptive: Adam Marušić (thigh), Nicolò Rovella (calf) and Patric (sprained ankle) are all missing, with Rovella's absence the most felt given his role shielding the defence, leaving Gattuso to reshuffle both his midfield and backline.
Sassuolo typically set up in a 4-3-3 or 4-2-3-1, relying on home organisation and quick counters through Domenico Berardi on the wing and Vasilije Adžić from midfield. Nemanja Matić steadies things in the middle but without Koné, Idzes and Boloca beside him, the midfield is far more exposed than Aquilani would like. Lazio's 4-3-3 under Gattuso is built around defensive compactness first, with Davide Frattesi scoring from midfield, Mattia Zaccagni creating and Gustav Isaksen and Nuno Tavares providing width and overlaps from the left. Even without Rovella, Marušić and Patric, the structure is disciplined enough to press in organised blocks and punish transitions.
The interesting battles are Berardi against Lazio's right sided defenders, where his dribbling could create openings if Sassuolo win the press and Frattesi making runs into channels against a Sassuolo midfield already thin on numbers. Adžić carrying the ball forward against the Lazio double pivot is worth watching too because he can find space in tight situations when he's on form. With Matić likely dropping deeper to compensate for the lost cover around him, that double pivot also becomes more exposed to direct balls in behind without Rovella organising.
Lazio lead the all time series with 14 wins from 25 meetings, with Sassuolo claiming six. The recent encounters give the hosts some encouragement, though the balance still leans one way: Sassuolo beat Lazio 1-0 at the Mapei Stadium in September 2025 but Lazio took the reverse fixture 2-1 in March 2026.
With experienced defenders missing on both sides, dead ball situations could swing things in unexpected directions. Neither side can be counted on to dominate from set pieces the way they might at full strength, which makes the fixture harder to call than Lazio's general quality would suggest.
Gattuso's defensive structure limits the chances Sassuolo will create and Frattesi and Zaccagni are likely to find the pockets of space that open up when Sassuolo's depleted midfield loses shape late in the game. That said, Sassuolo beat Lazio here just over a year ago and with Rovella absent there is less certainty at the base of Lazio's midfield. Berardi's dribbling and Adžić's movement in tight spaces are the most plausible routes to a home goal and an early Sassuolo lead that makes Lazio uncomfortable for a spell feels entirely plausible. But Lazio have shown this season, most visibly in the Juventus win, that they know how to manage games and find late solutions. A 2-1 scoreline with the winner coming from a counter or set piece late on seems the most probable way this ends.
Prediction: Lazio 2-1 Sassuolo.
Ryan Baldi
Football Writer
Ryan Baldi is a professional football writer with years of experience and has been featured by respected outlets such as the BBC, The Guardian, Sky Sports, DAZN, FourFourTwo, ESPN, Yahoo Sport and Football365. He has also written several books including Arsène Who?.
