In a lively start, the hosts came close to taking the lead inside the very first minute when Ismaël Koné’s close-range effort beat Yann Sommer, but was headed away just in front of the goal-line by Federico Dimarco.
It was the leaders, though, who made the breakthrough after 11 minutes, as Dimarco’s sublime corner delivery was met by a towering header from Yann Bisseck for his second Serie A goal of the season.
The situation almost got much worse for the Neroverdi shortly afterwards, with only a vital block preventing Bisseck from claiming his second goal of the night.
Momentum continued to swell within the Inter ranks, and the superb Dimarco came within a whisker of doubling the Nerazzurri’s advantage with a long-range free-kick that rattled the woodwork.
The visitors continued to boss proceedings and it was Dimarco once again who played an instrumental role in Inter finding the scoresheet.
An outstanding cross from the left flank by the Italy international found Marcus Thuram just inside the six-yard box, and he had no trouble in poking the ball past Arijanet Murić to put his side two up.
Sassuolo thought they had grabbed themselves a lifeline in the latter stages of the first half when Kristian Thorstvedt found the back of the net from eight yards out, but to their dismay, the goal was eventually ruled out for offside by the VAR officials.
Any hope that Sassuolo supporters had of getting back into contention were dashed after an abysmal start to the second half.
Just five minutes after the interval, the Neroverdi defence were made to pay for not clearing their lines properly by Lautaro Martínez, who expertly chested the ball down before firing it beyond Murić’s reach for Inter’s third of the evening.
The visitors were in no mood to step off the gas, and they were soon celebrating once more. Dimarco notched a hat-trick of assists as another superb corner was headed home, this time by Manuel Akanji.
A miserable night for Fabio Grosso’s side showed no sign of improving as Nemanja Matić was promptly shown a second yellow card for dissent, reducing the hosts to 10 men.
Inter displayed no sympathy towards their opponents and came desperately close to adding a fifth goal just after the hour mark, when Murić did well to tip Thuram’s close-range strike onto the post.
With the result beyond doubt, the visitors added the cherry on top thanks to Luis Henrique’s wonderful finish from inside the box.
Having now registered five wins on the bounce in all competitions, Cristian Chivu’s side will aim to carry on their excellent run of form when they host Juventus in Serie A next weekend.
Meanwhile, Sassuolo remain in 11th position after seeing their two-match winning streak come to an end.
Flashscore Man of the Match: Federico Dimarco (Inter Milan)
