Inter travel to the San Paolo to take on Napoli in a situation where they need to win to remain competitive in the hunt for a European place.
Inter will be looking to bounce back after losing 0-1 against Fiorentina last week. That loss halted a 5 match unbeaten run for Mancini’s men in all competitions and has seen Inter drop to 9th place in the league standings.
Napoli come into this game on the back of a loss 1-0 at Torino last weekend. While Inter have had a week to prepare for this game, Napoli where in midweek action against Lazio in Rome in the Coppa Italia semi-final 1st leg.
Rafa Benitez’s team are 4 points off second placed Roma and have only lost 2 games at home this season.
This game will see the battle between two Argentina strikers in goal scoring form in Mauro Icardi and Gonzalo Higuain.
Icardi has 14 goals so far this season, one behind capo-cannoniere Carlos Tevez on 15.
Higuain has 12 goals so far but hasn’t scored since January 26th.
This is the probable line-up as reported by GDS.
Samir Handanovic keeps his place in goal despite his mistake in last week’s loss against La Viola.
This match will see our strongest full back pairing with Danilo D’Ambrosio on the right and Davide Santon on the left.
The central defensive pairing will be Andrea Ranocchia and Juan Jesus while new signing Dias Felipe will be on the bench. Jonathan and Yuto Nagatomo are still long term injury casualties.
The midfield three will be Fredy Guarin, Gary Medel and Marcelo Brozovic.
Xherdan Shaqiri is likely to start in the trequartista role replacing Mateo Kovacic.
Up front Mauro Icardi should start despite a knock in training this week. His partner will be Rodrigo Palacio who replaces the out of form Lukas Podolski.
Probable line-up (subject to change): (4-3-1-2) Handanovic, D’Ambrosio, Ranocchia, Juan Jesus, Santon, Guarin, Medel, Brozovic, Shaqiri, Icardi, Palacio.
Bench: Carrizo, Berni, Andreolli, Campagnaro, Vidic, Dodo, Felipe, Kovacic, Kuzmanovic, Obi, Hernanes, Podolski, Puscas.
Some stats:
Napoli are unbeaten against Inter in their last 11 home games in all competitions. The last time Inter won at the San Paolo was way back on 18 October 1997 with a 0-2 victory thanks to Fabio Galante’s header and a Turrini own goal from an Aaron Winter shot.
The reverse league fixture this season on 19 October 2014 ended 2-2 with an injury time headed equaliser from Hernanes in a match which saw 4 goals scored in the last 11 minutes.
Player to Watch: Xherdan Shaqiri – The Swiss Maestro with the delectable left foot really changed the game last week when coming off the bench and really makes the team look more dangerous when going forward.
My Prediction: Napoli 0-1 Inter
Scorer: Shaqiri
Officials: Referee: Gianluca Rocchi Assistants: Costanzo, Meli
Fourth Official: Petrella Additional Assistants: Gervasoni, Cervellera
Author’s Note: I’m feeling positive about getting a win in this game down to Napoli having to play in midweek and hopefully Shaqiri can really take advantage of Napoli’s fatigue. When he was benched last week it really hindered the team. I feel that we can nick a win in what will be a tight match.
