Roma in Serie A title mix, says Gasperini after 3-0 win over Sassuolo

Gian Piero Gasperini believes his Roma team are firmly in the mix for the Serie A title after they dispatched Sassuolo 3-0.

Roma bounced back from their capitulation against Manchester United by swatting aside Sassuolo at Stadio Olimpico on Saturday.

Mario Hermoso and Rodrigo Mora were on target for Roma, who also benefited from Sebastian Walukiewicz's own goal.

Roma posted 3.73 expected goals in a dominant performance, as they made it 18 home league games unbeaten, which is their longest such run under a single manager since a 22-game streak between January 2016 and February 2017 under Luciano Spalletti (W19 D3).

They also became only the fourth team in the last 65 years to score more than 30 goals after 11 Serie A matches in a season, following Juventus (33), Napoli (32) and Lazio (31), all of whom achieved this in 2017-18. Roma have netted 31 league goals already this season.

Roma moved up to second, at least temporarily, with Inter in action on Sunday. Lazio are top.

And Gasperini feels his team can now be labelled as title challengers.

"It [is] an incredible run of games, we lost only to Real Madrid and Manchester United, but also had a run of victories, drew with Como and Napoli," Gasperini said.

"Those two defeats hurt because they were late and we were leading, but they did come at the end of strong performances and against top-level opponents.

"Undoubtedly, this season we improved a lot in attack, so now we score lots of goals in different ways and with different players. Even when we lost, we scored lots of goals.

"In fact, I don't believe this is a response to a defeat, it's just more confirmation from this team of the track they are on.

"It's fun to play this season. We must not delude ourselves or disappoint ourselves, so there's no harm in dreaming, especially with the journey that we are on. I don't know what we could be capable of achieving.

"Inter are the best placed to win. For the rest, all of us are in the mix, including us, and can have our chances."

Mora had already hit the crossbar before Hermoso put Roma ahead in the 27th minute, firing home after initially trying to set up Donyell Malen. 

Walukiewicz inadvertently turned in from Malen's shot, and Roma grabbed their third in the second half when Mora picked out the bottom corner.