Following their advancement to the Coppa Italia quarter-final, Inter look set to improve from their performance in mid-week when they welcome 13th placed Udinese to the Studio Giuseppe Meazza on Saturday afternoon. Inter are still undefeated this season despite difficult away trips to Roma, Napoli and most recently Juventus and have won 7 of their 8 home games, drawing just once. Below Saturday’s match is previewed using WhoScored Stats for what seems to be an opportunity for the Nerazzurri to either extend or maintain the gap at the top of the league.
Attack:
Inter have average 2.1 goals from 15.8 shots per game, producing 33 goals this season. The Nerazzurri are very effective at home, scoring 20 goals with at least a goal in each of the fixtures. La Beneamata have scored 21 times from open plays, 7 from set pieces, 4 spot kicks and just one goal from counter attack. Meanwhile Udinese have improved a lot under new coach Oddo, 2 wins in 3 games, scoring a total of 13 goals in their last 3 games in all competition. Kevin Lasagna is the team’s top scorer with 4 goals. Also Czech’s Jankto has been in great form lately, scoring 3 goals in his last 3 games in all competition.
Defence:
Luciano Spalletti’s men are well discipline and solid defensively. They have conceded the least number of goals in the league (10) as well as being the only side yet to receive a red card this term. Inter have faced 12.6 shots per game resulting to the 5 goals conceded at home. Udinese on the other hand have conceded 10 goals on the road, from the 13.1 shots they have allowed per game. The Nerazzurri have average 15.5 tackles per game and 10 interceptions per game, the key men responsible for this stats are D’Ambrosio (2.6 tackles per game) and Gagliardini (1.5 interceptions per game). Also Skriniar have average 5 clearances per game while his partner in crime Miranda have average 1.3 block per game. Meanwhile The Zebrettes have 16.2 tackles per game and 12.9 interceptions per game. Inter have kept the most clean sheet in the league with 8 and also the only team yet to concede a goal from set piece.
Moving The Ball:
Inter have recorded an average possession of 53.6% per game and 85.2% pass accuracy while Udinese have an average possession of 45.6% per game and also 78.7% pass accuracy per game. The boys from Giuseppe Meazza have also completed 7.9 dribbles per game – Candreva has 1.6 dribbles per game. Adding to this, he also average the most key passes per game with 2.9. Inter average 495 short passes per game and 47 long balls per game. Borja Valero, whose absence was felt during the Coppa Italia game against Pordenone, have average the most passes per game with 64.8 while Skriniar has the best pass success percentage with 91.6%, closely followed by Valero with 91.1%.
WhoScored Rating Leaders:
Inter’s top three performers this season still remain Perisic (7.62), Icardi (7.54) and Skriniar (7.37). Icardi is still the league’s leading goalscorer (16), Candreva notch the highest assists in the division (7), and Handanovic has kept the most clean sheets (8). Jankto (6.99), Adnan (6.98) and Rodrigo De Paul (6.96) are the three best rated players from Udinese.
Will Inter still be top of the league after the home game against Udinese? Do you have a stat you want us to highlight? Discuss in the comments below.
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