Spezia Calcio kick off the first Serie A season in the club's history by hosting Sassuolo, and will be eager to make a good impression in the top flight.
Sassuolo, meanwhile, have already played their first league game, drawing 1-1 with Cagliari, and will hope to improve on that result as they build on last season's eighth-placed finish.
Match preview
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Spezia finished third in Serie B last season and won promotion via the playoffs, beating Chievo Verona and Frosinone.
In 2008, the club was forced to declare bankruptcy after being relegated from the second tier and was refounded, starting the 2008-09 season in Italy's fourth tier.
After 12 years, though, the club has finally clawed its way into the top flight and will hope to give a good account of themselves.
They take on Sassuolo, who themselves entered Serie A for the first time in their history in 2013 - and have remained there since - and Spezia will hope to follow in their opponent's footsteps.
Sassuolo finished eighth in Serie A last term - their highest top-flight finish since they placed sixth in the 2015/16 season - and will hope to kick on this time around.
Their stalemate at home against Cagliari, while disappointing, was perhaps to be expected, given the two sides drew both their league meetings last term.
In Spezia, though, Sassuolo will see an opportunity to pick up their first win of the campaign, with their newly-promoted opponents likely to require an adaptation period.
Sassuolo will also be hoping to avoid the stuttering start they endured last season, only winning two of their first seven league games.
Spezia Calcio Serie A form: N/A
Sassuolo Serie A form: D
Team News
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Spezia head coach Vincenzo Italiano has a couple of players unlikely to be able to feature against Sassuolo through injury.
Giuseppe Mastinu and Elio Capradossi are both struggling with minor injuries and are unlikely to be risked.
Meanwhile, Sassuolo boss Roberto De Zerbi has the same number of players out, but with more serious injuries.
Francesco Magnanelli is set to be sidelined until early November with a hernia.
Filippo Romagna's situation is far worse, however, with the defender ruled out for the season with a knee injury.
Spezia Calcio possible starting lineup:
Zoet; Ferrer, Erlic, Terzi, Ramos; Bartolomei, M. Ricci, Maggiore; F. Ricci, Galabinov, Gyasi
Sassuolo possible starting lineup:
Consigli; Toljan, Chiriches, Ferrari, Rogerio; Obiang, Locatelli; Berardi, Duricic, Haraslin; Caputo
We say: Spezia Calcio 0-2 Sassuolo
Sassuolo have proven themselves a good outfit recently and should have little trouble claiming all three points from Serie A debutants Spezia.
Top betting tip
Our expert tipster partners at Sporita.com are predicting under 3.5 goals in this match. Click here to find out what else they are predicting for this game and for more of their tried-and-tested football tips.Under 3.5:dataData Analysis
Our analysis of all available data, including recent performances and player stats up until an hour before kickoff, suggested the most likely outcome of this match was a Spezia Calcio win with a probability of 48.77%. A win for Sassuolo had a probability of 27.22% and a draw had a probability of 24%.
The most likely scoreline for a Spezia Calcio win was 2-1 with a probability of 9.52%. The next most likely scorelines for that outcome were 1-0 (9.37%) and 2-0 (7.91%). The likeliest Sassuolo win was 1-2 (6.78%), while for a drawn scoreline it was 1-1 (11.26%). The actual scoreline of 1-4 was predicted with a 0.8% likelihood.
