Inter travel to the Atleti Azzurri D’Italia on the back of a performance full of confidence against Palermo last week which resulted in a comfortable 3-0 win.
Roberto Mancini will hope that the team has turned a corner and can build some momentum to make a run up the Serie A table.
If Inter are to get a place in Europe their away form will have to improve. Away from home Inter have only beaten Chievo and Cesena and can take a step in the right direction by winning this Lombardy Derby.
This is the line-up as reported by La Gazzetta Dello Sport.
Handanovic will keep his place in goal.
Inter are down to the bare bones in defence with Marco Andreolli, Danilo D’Ambrosio, Jonathan and Yuto Nagatomo all injured. Hugo Campagnaro has returned from injury and is expected to start at right back with a central defensive pairing of Andrea Ranocchia and Juan Jesus, with Davide Santon at left back.
The newspaper also reports that Inter will use a 4-3-1-2 formation with the three in midfield being Freddy Guarin, Gary Medel and Marcelo Brozovic. Xherdan Shaqiri could be the man to take the trequartista role.
Up top we could see a partnership between on fire Mauro Icardi and Lukas Podolski who really needs to up his game.
Probable line-up(subject to change): Handanovic, Campagnaro, Ranocchia, Juan Jesus, Santon, Guarin, Medel, Brozovic, Shaqiri, Icardi and Podolski.
Bench: Carrizo, Berni, Vidic, Donkor, Di Marco, Dodo, Obi, Kuzmanovic, Hernanes, Kovacic, Puscas, Palacio.
Some stats:
Inter haven’t beaten Atalanta in Bergamo since Mancini was last in charge in 2008 with a 2-0 win and the goals coming from Mario Balotelli and Patrick Vieira.
Last 5 fixtures between the clubs:
24/09/2014 Inter 2-0 Atalanta
23/03/2014 Inter 1-2 Atalanta
29/10/2013 Atalanta 1-1 Inter
07/04/2013 Inter 3-4 Atalanta
11/11/2012 Atalanta 3-2 Inter
Player to watch: Mauro Icardi – Who else but ‘Maurito’. This guy is on fire at the minute and I hope to see him score and celebrate this time.
My Prediction: Atalanta 1-2 Inter
Scorers: Pinilla (Atalanta), Icardi, Shaqiri (Inter)
Officials: Referee: Luca Banti Assistants: Crispo, La Rocca
Fourth official: Stallone Additional Assistants: Irrati, Pasqua
Source: La Gazzetta Dello Sport
Author’s Note: I have been calling for Icardi to get a partner as he can’t do all the scoring on his own. It will be interesting to see if Icardi and Podolski can play together. Mancini will want a good result but he will also want a performance to send a message to the rest of Serie A.
