After an eventful international break, the Serie A is back this weekend for the home stretch and Monday night Inter will host Sampdoria at the San Siro tonight at 20:45 CET.
Despite capping the run of games before the international break with a disappointing draw away to Torino, the mood in the Nerazzurri camp will probably be quite buoyant. Inter’s players have mostly enjoyed positive results on international duty and will look to carry that positive momentum into the final run in the season. The match against Samp will be essential to win if there’s a sliver of hope for a third place finish to remain.
Stefano Pioli will probably approach the match with the same offensive intensity seen against Atalanta and Cagliari. He will also know that despite losing Luis Muriel to injury on international duty, Sampdoria possess a very healthy pair of strikers in Fabio Quagliarella and alleged Inter target Patrik Schick.
Team News
Pioli can be very thankful that despite having had thirteen players called up for international duty during the break, he still has a full squad at his disposal. Despite performing very well in the previous few games, Ever Banega might be rested owing to his taxing trip back from South America since it is several scales of magnitude more difficult than Joao Mario’s commute back from Portugal.
Probable Inter line-up (4-2-3-1): Handanovic; Ansaldi, Miranda, Medel, D’Ambrosio; Kondogbia, Gagliardini; Candreva, Joao Mario, Perisic; Icardi (C).
Stats
Last Season: Inter 3-1 Sampdoria
Last 10 Head to Head: In the two sides’ last ten encounters Inter clearly have the upper hand, beating the Doria six times to their two wins.
Player to Watch:
Ivan Perisic: After clocking in one of his most disappointing performances in an Inter jersey, the Croatian winger will be looking to return his prolific best in front of the home crowd. It is important to note that Perisic captained his national team during the international break, which may give him extra motivation to find his best form for Inter.
Officials
Referee: Domenico Celi.
Assistants: Preti& Longo.
Fourth Official: Lo Cicero.
Additional Assistants: Irati & La Penna
Prediction & Comment
Prediction & scorers: Inter 2-1 Sampdoria with Perisic and Icardi scoring.
Comment: You can bet on Inter coming out racing from the starting whistle, and if they manage to score an early goal, then all bets are off. The key to a Samp result is defensive organization, if they manage to keep their net unsullied into halftime then they could be looking at a hurried and frustrated Inter in the second half.
