Finally Serie A is back after yet another international break and what a match to restart with as Inter take on rivals Juventus in the Derby D’Italia at the San Siro on Sunday 18 October 2015 (kick off 20:45 CET).

Inter have started the season well with five wins in their first five games of the season against Atalanta, Carpi, AC Milan, Chievo and Hellas Verona but in their last two games against better opposition in Fiorentina and Sampdoria, Roberto Mancini’s side have looked out of sorts with a 4-1 hammering at San Siro by La Viola before a hard fought 1-1 draw away at Sampdoria in their last outing.

Coming into this weekend’s fixtures, Inter sit in 2nd place in the Serie A table on 16 points, 2 points behind Fiorentina at the top and 8 points clear of their opponents Juventus.

Champions Juventus have endured a disappointing start to their title defence and have already lost three matches this season, which equals their number of losses for the whole of last season, in defeats to title contenders Napoli (2-1) and Roma (2-1) as well as an opening day loss against Udinese (1-0).

Despite their struggles in Serie A, the Turin giants have turned it on in the Champions League with impressive wins against Manchester City and Sevilla but just two wins in Serie A against Bologna (3-1) and Genoa (2-0) and disappointing draws against Frosinone (1-1) and Chievo (1-1) sees the Bianconeri sit in 12th place in the Serie A table on 8 points.

Here is the Inter team news and probable line up as reported by La Gazzetta dello Sport:

Samir Handanovic starts in goal with Davide Santon on the right of a four man defence including a central defensive partnership of Joao Miranda and Jeison Murillo. At left back it’s between Juan Jesus and Alex Telles for the place with the favourite at this stage being Juan Jesus.

In the midfield three, Fredy Guarin is expected to start alongside Gary Medel and Felipe Melo, who should be fit despite some muscle fatigue this week in training.

In the trequartista role Roberto Mancini is expected to start Croatian Ivan Perisic after scoring two goals during the international break for his country.

Up top captain Mauro Icardi is expected to be partnered alongside Stevan Jovetic who has returned from injury.

Probable Inter line up (subject to change): (4-3-1-2) Handanovic, Santon, Miranda, Murillo, Juan Jesus, Guarin, Medel, Melo, Perisic, Icardi(C), Jovetic.

Bench: Carrizo, Berni, Telles, Montoya, Ranocchia, D’Ambrosio, Nagatomo, Kondogbia, Gnoukouri, Brozovic, Palacio, Biabiany, Manaj.

 

Some Stats:

Ex Inter trequartista Hernanes returns to the San Siro for the first time since his move to Juventus in the last days of the Summer transfer market.

Inter have met Juventus at the San Siro in Serie A 95 times with 42 wins to Juve’s 23 wins with 30 matches drawn.

In the overall meetings in Serie A, Juve lead the stats with 86 wins to Inter’s 57 wins with 48 of the 191 matches drawn.

In total over all competitions the teams have played each other 222 times and a win for Juve in this game would be their 100th competitive win against Inter.

Juventus are in the midst of their worst start to a league season since the 1980/81 season, although that year the Bianconeri recovered to win the Scudetto.

Inter’s last win against Juventus at the San Siro came in the treble winning season of 2009/10 on 16 April 2010 with a 2-0 scoreline thanks to a superb Maicon volley and a tap in from Samuel Eto’o.

Player to Watch: Mauro Icardi – The Argentine has a fantastic scoring record against Juventus with 6 goals from 5 games against them stretching back to his time at Sampdoria.

My Prediction: Inter 2-1 Juventus

Scorers: Jovetic, Icardi (Inter), Dybala (Juventus)

Officials: Referee: Paolo Valeri     Assistants: Manganelli, Meli

Fourth Official: Dobosz     Additional Assistants: Massa, Russo

 

Author’s Note: This is an early season six-pointer and a win here against Juve would send a message to the rest of Serie A that we are here for the long run however my one issue is Roberto Mancini playing Perisic as a trequartista when he is clearly more effective in a wide role as shown in the second half against Sampdoria last time out. Claudio Marchisio’s return from injury will boost Juventus but I believe we can get the points here to put ourselves 11 points clears of the Bianconeri.

Here’s hoping anyway. Forza Inter!