Following a sluggish start to the season, there was an element of pressure on Lazio to kick on following October’s international break.
The opening stages showed little to suggest the pause had done them much good, but they did force the first meaningful action of the evening when Felipe Anderson’s effort was smartly stopped by Andrea Consigli.
The pair were to duel again shortly after, but it was Lazio’s Brazilian who got the upper hand this time, slotting home after Taty Castellanos set him up nicely inside the area.
Taking the lead breathed new life into Lazio and their lead was soon doubled, albeit in rather fortuitous fashion. Some kamikaze Sassuolo defending ended with Daniel Boloca gifting the ball to Luis Alberto in the area - one he duly accepted by dinking the ball over Consigli.
That left Sassuolo with plenty of work to do after the break, and just 10 minutes into the second half they were given a huge lifeline as a swift Lazio counter ended with Danilo Cataldi crashing an effort off the post.
While that was a lifeline for Sassuolo, Lazio received one of their own shortly after. Goalkeeper Ivan Provedel was initially sent off after he was adjudged to have handled outside the area, but a lengthy VAR check confirmed he was actually inside the box, and his dismissal was overturned. Arriving at such a decision certainly hurt Sassuolo’s chances of finding a route back into the game, not least because the 80 minute mark arrived without them as much as mustering a shot on target.
In truth, they were rather fortunate not to have been on the end of a heftier defeat, especially after Matías Vecino fired wide with the goal at his mercy from 12-yards.
That miss didn’t prove costly to Lazio though, who were untroubled in seeing out just a second away league win of the season and securing their fourth successive H2H win against a Sassuolo side who, even after their poor start, are still closer to the European spots than the relegation zone by way of points.
Flashscore Man of the Match: Luis Alberto (Lazio)
