Inter travel to the Stadio Friuli on Tuesday night 28 April 2015 (kick off 20:45 CET) to take on Udinese after a superb 2-1 win against Roma which kept Inter’s hopes of a European place alive.

Inter are in 9th place after the weekend’s win and are now 4 points behind Fiorentina in 6th and the final Europa League qualifying place.

Ex Inter coach Andrea Stramaccioni’s Udinese team come into this game after an impressive 2-1 win against Inter’s city rivals AC Milan which snapped a 6 match winless run.

That win moved Udinese 14 points clear of the relegation zone into 13th place, and 7 points behind Inter.

Here is the Inter team news and probable line up as reported by Sky:

Samir Handanovic keeps his place to start in goal.

In defence Roberto Mancini will need to make a new combination as captain Andrea Ranocchia and Juan Jesus are both suspended for this game.

At right back Danilo D’Ambrosio is expected to keep his place and at left back Davide Santon is expected to play ahead of Yuto Nagatomo.

In central defence, Felipe is the favourite to partner Nemanja Vidic ahead of Marco Andreolli.

In midfield Gary Medel is available after serving a suspension against Roma. He is expected to regain his place at the expense of Marcelo Brozovic or Assane Gnoukouri and at this stage it looks like the Croatian could drop to the bench. Fredy Guarin is expected to complete the midfield three.

In the trequartista role Hernanes is expected to keep his place after scoring against Roma, ahead of Xherdan Shaqiri who will spend a third match starting on the bench.

Up top the usual partnership of Rodrigo Palacio and Mauro Icardi will start.

Probable Inter line up (subject to change): (4-3-1-2) Handanovic, D’Ambrosio, Felipe, Vidic, Santon, Guarin (c), Medel, Gnoukouri, Hernanes, Icardi, Palacio.

Bench: Carrizo, Berni, Sciacca, Donkor, Nagatomo, Di Marco, Kovacic, Obi, Brozovic, Palazzi, Podolski, Puscas, Shaqiri, Bonazzoli.

Some Stats:

In the earlier fixture this season Udinese came from a goal behind to beat Inter 2-1 at San Siro.

Udinese are a bit of a bogey team for Inter and have won 6 of the last 9 matches between the two clubs.

If Antonio Di Natale scores he will equal Roberto Baggio’s record of 205 goals in Serie A.

After last weekend’s 88th minute winner against Roma, Mauro Icardi is now on 17 goals in Serie A, 1 behind Carlos Tevez on 18 in the race for the capo-cannoniere crown.

Andrea Stramaccioni began his coaching career at Inter and guided the Nerazzurri to 9th place in the 2012/13 season before being shown the door.

Player to Watch: Mauro Icardi – The Argentine will be brimming with confidence after his match winning goal against Roma and I expect him to score again against Udinese.

My Prediction: Udinese 1-2 Inter

Scorers: Di Natale (Udinese), Icardi, Palacio (Inter)

Officials: Referee: Gianluca Rocchi    Assistants: Padovan, Barbirati

Fourth Official: Marzaloni    Additional Assistants: Peruzzo, Pezzuto

 

Author’s Note: Inter produced a great performance against Roma and Udinese will be confident after their win against AC Milan but I still believe, despite Inter’s recent record against Udinese, that with a European place still up for grabs that Inter can win this game and the next game against Chievo also and really put pressure on a Fiorentina team that have lost their last two matches.