Inter begin an explosive ten match dash to the end of the season by hosting Champions League competitors Lazio. Match tomorrow Sunday at 20:45 CET.  

Inter’s run to the end of the season seems to be the toughest among the four teams competing for the last two Champions League spots (Assuming Napoli have booked theirs) and it starts against a team with much intertwined history in end of season drama in Lazio. Thankfully Luciano Spalletti’s side seem to always play up to the competition. This match against a direct competitor for a top four finish is exactly that, and expect the Inter squad to be on the hunt for all three points.

The International break has brought a sense of normalcy to the Inter camp. With the Icardi drama ostensibly behind us and the Derby win calming the nerves of the Italian calcio press and the Inter camp, the team can now focus on its primary season’s objective which is finishing in the top four places. While Inter have recently done well against Lazio, yet one cannot expect a match similar to the three nil blitz by the Nerazzurri when they visited Rome earlier in the season. Since then, Lazio’s midfield stars Sergej Milinkovic-Savic and Luis Alberto have managed to rediscover some of their best form. This bodes well for Lazio’s manager Simone Inzaghi and his midfield-forward tactics and Inter’s midfielders Marcelo Brozovic and Matias Vecino must be on high alert to keep the visitors at bay.

Lazio generally do not fare well put under pressure and prevented from comfortably building up their attacks in the midfield. This may lead Spaletti to deploy Vecino in the same position and role as he did in the Derby, sitting somewhere between trequartitsa and regista, flitting in and out between the lines and popping up unmarked in spaces when going forward but being well positioned enough to provide strength and grit when breaking down the visitors’ attacking forays. Expect a highly tactical encounter where the battle for the midfield can prove to be the key in unlocking this fixture.

Team News

The international break has not been kind to Spalletti; injuries have ruled out half of his central defensive unit in Stefan de Vrij and a thigh issue will keep Lautaro Martinez out of the squad as well. Radja Nainggolan is probably going to miss the call up although reports indicate that the Belgian midfielder is close to a fill recovery and just does not want to risk re-aggravating the injury by rushing back into action.

Unsurprisingly the majority of bandwidth coming out of Appiano has been dominated by Icardi’s return to training with the squad. It appears that the Argentine might be called up for the match but unlikely to start the match.

Probable Inter line-up (4-2-3-1): Handanovic (C); D’Ambrosio, Miranda, Skriniar, Dalbert; Vecino, Brozovic; Perisic, Joao Mario, Politano; Keita

Stats

Last Season: Inter 0 – 0 Lazio

Last 10 Head to Head: Surprisingly Inter have the clear upper hand in the head to head department with six wins for the Nerazzurri to Lazio’s two wins. Interestingly, Inter have a better win ratio in Rome than that for home matches.

Keep an Eye on

Keita Balde: The Senegalese forward will bear the responsibility of leading Inter’s attack owing to Lautaro’s injury and Icardi’s omission from the squad. The last time Keita was put in this position was against Eintracht Frankfurt a couple of weeks ago and it did not go too well for him. Keita is a temperamental player who needs to feel motivated and appreciated to bring out his best, and there can be no stronger motivator than facing your ex-employers in a head to head race for a Champions League finish.

Officials

Referee: Paolo Mazzoleni.

Assistants: Bindoni and Vivenzi.

Fourth Official: Abbattista.

VAR Assistants: Rocchi and Di Liberatore.

Prediction & Concluding Remarks 

Prediction & scorers: Inter 1-0 Lazio with Keita making the difference.

Concluding remarks: It is always difficult to predict a squad’s condition and mental state after an international break. On the one hand, the euphoria of the derby win has probably worn off the squad, but on the other hand, the break has allowed Inter to mentally settle back into third place and thus face Lazio with more calmness and serenity than the frantic mess prior to the derby. Expect a tight match determined by individual incidents.