The forward suffered a back injury and was substituted at the end of the first half. El Shaarawy came on in his place

Gian Piero Gasperini is dealing with yet another injury. The Roma coach was forced to substitute Evan Ferguson in the 39th minute of the match against Sassuolo. The forward suffered a back injury; he appeared to be in considerable pain and headed straight for the locker room after leaving the field. Stephan El Shaarawy came on in his place. The Irishman joins his teammates Artem Dovbyk and Leon Bailey on the injury list, both of whom are also dealing with physical issues. Lorenzo Pellegrini and Tommaso Baldanzi are also unavailable for the Giallorossi.

Gian Piero Gasperini expressed moderate confidence regarding his center forward’s injury: “He took a blow; it’s a severe contusion. We’ll see tomorrow—I don’t think it’s a muscle issue that will require too many days of recovery.”

FERGUSON, THE STATS—  It remains to be seen, therefore, how long the coach will have to do without Ferguson, who was coming off a strong run of form: before getting injured against Sassuolo, the Irish forward had in fact scored two goals and provided one assist in his last three Serie A matches. On the Sports Prediction fantasy league, his fantasy average is 6.6.