These two sides have drifted into mid-table obscurity after largely uneventful campaigns to date, with neither a relegation battle nor a European push seemingly likely any time soon.
Nevertheless, there was an air of optimism amid the partisan Bianconeri fans, who saw their side take an early 10th-minute lead through Oumar Solet. The Frenchman latched onto Jurgen Ekkelenkamp’s pass before driving into the box and firing home a right-footed strike past Arijanet Muric.
Kosta Runjaic’s men were looking more likely to strike next, with further chances falling to Lennon Miller and Nicolo Zaniolo.
Sassuolo weren’t having much joy going forward themselves, but Kristian Thorstvedt would have been disappointed to fire his shot straight at Maduka Okoye from Josh Doig’s enticing ball from the left-hand side.
The visitors rallied as the half wore on, as another opportunity fell to Thorstvedt, who headed wide at the near post from Armand Lauriente’s corner.
Lauriente was one of the Neroverdi’s key protagonists going forward, and made a surging run down the left before his subsequent cross was narrowly missed by the onrushing Andrea Pinamonti.
A reverse of that particular combination ultimately resulted in Sassuolo’s equaliser, as Pinamonti deftly backheeled the ball into the path of Lauriente, who fired home a well-worked goal.
Fabio Grosso’s side then completed the turnaround with a second just two minutes later, when Pinamonti’s header clipped in off the post from Ulisses Garcia’s cross in another brilliantly engineered break.
Nicolo Bertola thought he had restored parity for Udinese with a far-post finish from a corner, but VAR ruled out the effort for a handball in the build-up.
Ultimately, there was to be no equaliser for the hosts, who succumbed to consecutive top-flight defeats, dropping down a place into 10th. Meanwhile, these three points see the Neroverdi leapfrog Udinese into ninth.
Flashscore Man of the Match: Armand Lauriente (Sassuolo)
