Sassuolo had the ball, Fiorentina had the finishing

Fiorentina beat Sassuolo 4-2 at the Mapei Stadium, scoring more than their chances suggested while the home side kept more of the ball.

Sassuolo had 58% of the ball at the Mapei Stadium, well above the 46.9% they average at home, and still lost 4-2 to Fiorentina. Fiorentina had 42% of possession, under their 47.1% away average. Possession only tells us who kept the ball, not who did something with it, and here the two stories pulled in opposite directions.

Armand Laurienté gave Sassuolo the lead in the 25th minute, finishing a move Sebastiano Esposito started. Mateo Pellegrino levelled just before half-time, and Alieu Njie put Fiorentina in front five minutes into the second half. Laurienté equalised again in the 65th minute, set up by Nemanja Matić, and the game looked balanced.

The home side's chances were not as good as their possession. Sassuolo had six shots, only two of them on target, and four from inside the box. Expected goals, a rough measure of how good a side's chances were, where 1.0 means roughly one goal's worth of chances, came to 0.8. That is well below the 1.28 Sassuolo usually create at home.

Laurienté was the exception. He scored both of Sassuolo's goals from three shots, and his rating of 9.2 is the highest on either side. Matić and Esposito each had an assist, but Sassuolo's attacking output otherwise dried up, with Kieron Bowie off after 31 minutes.

Fiorentina's chances were ordinary by their own standards. They had 15 shots, six on target and ten inside the box, and their expected goals of 1.37 sit almost exactly on their away average of 1.35. What stood out was the finishing: four goals from those chances, against an away average of 1.2. Franco Mastantuono's five shots and his goal in the 79th minute, rated 8.2, showed how often they were testing the keeper.

Mastantuono's goal put Fiorentina 3-2 up, and Víctor Valdepeñas Talavera added a fourth in the 90th minute, set up by Cher Ndour. Sassuolo conceded four here, against a home average of 2.4. Neither side was reduced to ten men, so the game was decided entirely by who finished the chances they made.

Sassuolo sit 15th in the table with eight points from nine games, and their home record reads two wins, two draws and five defeats. Fiorentina are 17th on five points, and their away record is one win from nine. For a side that kept the ball so easily, Sassuolo's problem is the shots they did not take, and Fiorentina's problem was the shots they did.

Player of the matchA. Laurienté2 goals9.2

A. Njie1 goal · 1 assist8.4

Franco Mastantuono1 goal8.2

Mateo Pellegrino1 goal8.1