Match Details Inter v Sampdoria – 1st December 2013 – Kick Off 15:00 (CET) – Stadio Giuseppe Meazza a San Siro – Referee: C.Russo
The story so far……
Inter – The Nerazzurri are unbeaten in six league games, including successive wins in their last two home fixtures. Walter Mazzarri’s men sit in 4th place but may feel short changed after throwing away points at Cagliari, Torino and most recently Bologna. Still the divisions top scorers, Inter will be looking for all three points against a Sampdoria side which has struggled on their travels. Jonathan has looked reborn under Mazzarri and the former Napoli coach will hope that form continues as his side face an issue on the left hand side with Yuto Nagatomo’s absence. The swashbuckling play from Inter’s wing backs has been a feature of the teams play so far, if the men from Milan are to claim a top three spot come Sunday night their wide men will need to be heavily involved. With the reassuring sight of Hugo Campagnaro’s return to the defence, it will be interesting to see if Andrea Ranocchia can force his way back into the side ahead of the impressive Rolando.
Sampdoria – Unlucky not to claim all three points in Siniša Mihajlović’s first game in charge, the former Nerazzurri player will be hoping he can spoil Erick Thohir’s first visit to the San Siro. With just two wins to their name all season long, the side from Genoa will be hoping the Serbian can breathe fire into a campaign which threatens to see them returning to Serie B. Pedro Obiang has been a shadow of the player we saw last season and combined with the indifferent form of Manolo Gabbiadini (on loan from Juventus) has left the Blucerchiati short of firepower. If Sampdoria are to get back to winning ways on Sunday they will have to end a horrible run of form. They have just one win in their last 15 away league fixtures.
Probable formations, Injuries and suspensions. (Courtesy of Whoscored.com)
The Key Men
Inter: Ricky Alvarez – Consistently Inter’s outstanding performer throughout large parts of this season, Alvarez has adapted to whatever role he is selected in. Currently he’s being utilised in midfield with Fredy Guarin occupying the Argentinians usual role at trequartista. This hasn’t affected Ricky’s performances whatsoever, his high pass completion percentage and excellent dribbling skills continue to be a mainstay of Inter’s game. One thing that has been missing are any long range strikes from Alvarez’s powerful left foot. If he could pose a threat to the opponents goal from outside the penalty area, it would provide Mazzarri with yet another potent attacking weapon to add to his sides already impressive armory.
Sampdoria: Angelo Da Costa – The Portuguese shot stopper has already conceded 23 goals this season, if Sampdoria are to have any chance on Sunday he’ll need to show a significant improvement. He seems to have problems with any shots from long range and often can lose concentration. He has kept a solitary clean sheet this season and that’s not good news when you are facing the best attack in Serie A. Most notably Sampdoria have conceded the most goals in the second half of matches this season, another horrible statistic when you consider Inter have scored 18 of their goals in the second period of matches (most in Serie A).
Stat Attack – All the below stats were obtained from OPTA, the leading data provider for football statistics
Inter have won the last three league meetings vs Sampdoria, being unbeaten against the doriani since September 2009.
Sampdoria haven’t found the net in seven of their last 13 league encounters against Inter, managing to score more than a goal, in a single game, only once during that period.
The nerazzurri are unbeaten in their last 11 home league games vs Sampdoria (W7 D4).
Inter are unbeaten in Serie A in six fixtures (W3 D3), scoring 14 goals in the process.
Sampdoria haven’t won any of their last four games; three losses and a draw.
The doriani have conceded at least a goal in 12 of the 13 Serie A MDs played this season.
The blucerchiati have picked up 10 points in this Serie A: the last time they had had a worse start in the top-flight was back in 1974-75.
The nerazzurri have bagged the most goals in the league this term, 30, scoring 18 of them in the second half of games – a league-record.
On the other hand, Sampdoria have conceded the most goals in the second half of play, 18.
Rodrigo Palacio has scored three goals in two matches played vs Sampdoria last season, one at the San Siro and the other two at the Ferraris.
Sinisa Mihajlovic will play another former team having played for Inter from 2004 to 2006, he had been Mancini’s assistant coach until 2008.
Don’t forget to complete your prematch experience by listening to the ONLY 100% Inter podcast in English available. Listen to this weeks episode here
