Following their shock 3-1 loss at home to Udinese, Inter travel to the Mapei Stadium to face Sassuolo, a side that have won just one home game this campaign, in a search to rediscover their winning charm. Despite their first loss of the season last weekend, Inter are still undefeated in their 9 away games in serie A and are just two points behind first placed team Napoli. Below Saturday’s match is previewed using whoscored.com for what seems to be the biggest test of season for the Nerazzurri – Test of character, unity, resilience and most of reaction.

Attack:

Averaging 2 goals per game from 16.4 shots per game, Inter have netted 34 goals this season, only Juve, Napoli & Lazio have better figures. The Nerazzurri have scored 13 times on the road. Whilst Sassuolo are terrible finishers at home, scoring just 3 times at the Mapei Stadium, the worst home record in the league. They have also averaged 0.6 goals per game from 13.5 shots per game in total this season.

Defence:

Sassuolo’s solidarity win this season at home came in their last outing against Crotone, now they face a team whose main attacker (Mauro Icardi) has more goals (17) than their entire team efforts put together (13). Inter are yet to concede a goal from set piece and are also well discipline with zero red card so far this season. Inter have conceded 13 goals from the 12.4 shots per game they have faced this season while Sassuolo have allowed 14.1 shots per game, resulting to the 28 goals conceded this term. Inter average 15.6 tackles per game and 10 interceptions per game, D’Ambrosio average the most tackles per game with 2.6, while midfielder Gagliardini lead the most average interception per game with 1.6.

Moving the ball:

Inter have average 494 short passes per game and also 48 long balls per game. Spaniard maestro Borja Valero averages the most passes per game and the best pass success percentage per game with 64.8 and 91.5%. The Nerazzurri have also recorded 54% ball possession and 85.1% pass accuracy against Sassuolo’s 47.4% average ball possession and 77.1% pass accuracy. Interestingly Candreva has made the most key passes, crosses and dribbles per game with 3.3, 2.6 and 1.6 respectively.

Whoscored Rating Leaders:

Inter’s top three rated players remains Perisic (7.55), Icardi (7.54) and Skriniar (7.35). Icardi is currently the league’s capocannoniere with 17 goals from 17 games, scoring 50% of the Nerazzurri goals this season. While Candreva is also leading the division in terms of assists with 8. Sassuolo best rated players are Missorili (6.87), Acerbi (6.86) and Peluso (6.8), which raises questions about the performances of key players like Politano and Berardi – underperforming so far this season.

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