Inter welcome Sassuolo to the San Siro this Sunday 10 January 2016 (kick off 12:30 CET) in match day 19 of the 2015/16 season.
Inter come into this game on the back of a 0-1 win away at Empoli in midweek in their first match back after the Winter break. It was an important win on a day that many Serie A coaches fear and that has always produced surprises down the years but Inter didn’t slip up against the Tuscans.
Roberto Mancini quite rightly praised the team after that game as Inter bounced back with a win against an in-form Empoli after losing against Lazio before the break but it wasn’t a great performance and the Italian coach has reiterated to the players that he expects improvement in the upcoming games starting this weekend against Sassuolo.
The win in Empoli keeps Inter top of the Serie A table by one point ahead of Napoli and Fiorentina, and three points ahead of Juventus in fourth position.
Eusebio Di Francesco has done a superb job at Sassuolo since taking over in 2012, first winning promotion from Serie B before establishing the Neroverdi in Serie A and now this season they are challenging for a European place.
Sassuolo’s impressive run this season has seen them claim some notable scalps along the way with their wins coming against Napoli(2-1), Bologna(0-1), Palermo(0-1), Lazio(2-1), Juventus(1-0), Carpi(1-0) and Sampdoria(1-3), and when added to draws against Atalanta(2-2), Roma(2-2), Chievo(1-1), Udinese(0-0), Fiorentina(1-1), Hellas(1-1) and Frosinone(2-2) in midweek sees the Neroverdi in sixth place in the Serie A table on 27 points and with a match in hand against Torino.
The fact that Sassuolo have only lost three league matches this season against Genoa(2-1), Milan(2-1) and Empoli(1-0) shows they aren’t a team to be taken lightly.
Here is the Inter team news and probable line up as reported by La Gazzetta dello Sport at the time of writing:
Inter coach Roberto Mancini is expected to change the formation to 4-4-2 as has been tested in training in the last few days.
Samir Handanovic starts in goal with one change expected in defence with Alex Telles expected to replace Yuto Nagatomo on the left. Danilo D’Ambrosio is expected to keep his place at right back alongside the central defensive partnership of Joao Miranda and Jeison Murillo.
In a four man midfield Jonathan Biabiany could replace Adem Ljajic on the right with a central midfield duo of Marcelo Brozovic, who is favoured over Fredy Guarin, alongside Gary Medel with Ivan Perisic on the left. Felipe Melo sits out the second of his three match ban.
Up top Stevan Jovetic is expected to start alongside captain Mauro Icardi who is top scorer on eight goals.
Probable Inter line up (subject to change): (4-4-2) Handanovic, D’Ambrosio, Miranda, Murillo, Telles, Biabiany, Brozovic, Medel, Perisic, Icardi (c), Jovetic
Bench: Carrizo, Berni, Santon, Dodo, Ranocchia, Juan Jesus, Nagatomo, Montoya, Guarin, Gnoukouri, Kondogbia, Ljajic, Palacio, Manaj
Some Stats:
Since being promoted to Serie A in 2013, Sassuolo have faced Inter at the San Siro twice with Inter winning both games.
In the overall meetings between the sides in Serie A (home & away), Inter lead the stats with 3 wins to Sassuolo’s 1 win in the 4 matches played.
In last season’s corresponding fixture at the San Siro on 14 September 2014, Inter won 7-0 with goals from Kovacic, Guarin, Osvaldo x2 and an Icardi hat-trick.
Sassuolo’s only win against Inter came last season on 1 February 2015 at the Mapei Stadium in a 3-1 win thanks to goals from Zaza(now at Juventus), Sansone and Berardi.
After Inter’s win in midweek 0-1 at Empoli they have now equalled the defensive record of the 2007/08 season in which they had conceded just 11 goals after 18 matches.
Mauro Icardi has scored four goals in his last two appearances against Sassuolo.
Player to Watch: Mauro Icardi – The Argentine is starting to find his goal scoring form again just as he did in the second half of last season and he comes into this game having scored 4 goals in his last 3 Serie A games.
My Prediction: Inter 2-0 Sassuolo
Scorers: Icardi, Jovetic
Officials: Referee: Daniele Doveri Assistants: Barbirati, Marzaloni
Fourth Official: Lo Cicero Additional Assistants: Massa, Candussio
Author’s Note: I expect this to be a quite tight match against a Sassuolo team unbeaten in their last four Serie A matches but as I said in the midweek preview Inter need to be beating teams like Empoli and Sassuolo if they want to challenge for the Scudetto. Also worth noting is the man in charge of the game, Daniele Doveri, who Inter have seen the wrong side of on a few occasions in the past including this season when Murillo was harshly sent off at Palermo so I will be hoping he does his job properly this time.
Forza Inter!
