Welcome back to another edition of Inter Stats, where we look at the numbers, past and present, to give you a taster of what you can possible expect from Inter’s Serie A campaign.
This evening Inter head to Liguria, and more specifically, Genoa. Inter have had a mixed start to the season so far, having played 4 matches, inter have won 2, drawn 1 and lost 1, which leaves them in 6th place in the table.
Not the start that Antonio Conte would have hoped for when the campaign started, nevertheless, that is where they are and they will be looking to improve their league standing by getting the full 3 points against an opponent who, historically, have struggled to overcome them.
Since the birth of Serie A, Inter and Genoa have faced off 108 times. of those 108 matches, Inter have came out victors on 57 occasions, losing 22 times, and sharing the spoils 29 times.
More recently, in the last 10 league meetings between the two sides, inter have won 7 times, and lost 3. Looking at these numbers, you would definitely expect Inter to have the upper hand but taking a closer look and it is a bit more worrying for the Nerazzurri.
The reason? Well, Inter may have beaten Genoa 57 times, but 40 of those wins came when Inter were the home side, leaving 17 wins away from home.
More worryingly, Inter have lost 18 times to Genoa when playing in their backyard. Not a great record when you consider the difference in quality between the two. It may also be worth noting that the last 3 wins for Genoa have all came from home, so this is anything but straightforward.
Lets focus now on the numbers for Inter. The Nerazzuri have had a mixed start to the season so far. Looking good going forward and scoring goals, something they struggled with last year, and it shows, with scoring 11 goals in 4 games, the fourth highest in Serie A, and main man Lukaku bagging four of those for himself, seeing him joint top in the scorers chart.
You would think that would be good news, but it seems after focusing on attacking play and scoring more, has left the defence more open than usual, and Inter have been leaking in goals like an old car leaks oil.
The best defensive side of the 19/20 season have not conceded the 5th most goals this term, with their opponents netting 8 times.
This is an average of 2 per game, and while Inter have not always had their best defenders available for most of the season, most of these goals have come from individual errors from the players and will need to be addressed if they are to push for the title this season.
Genoa have had an uninspiring start to the season so far. I Grifoni have played 3 matches so far, each match ending in 1 win, 1 draw and 1 defeat.
Over the span of these 3 matches, Genoa have only managed to score 4 goals, the 3rd lowest in the league, each coming from a different player (Pandev, Zappacosta, Pjaca and Destro) and have conceded 7.
Genoa had a tough year last season, avoiding relegation by a margin of 4 points. this may be another difficult year to endure for the Rossoblu, who have the honour of being the oldest team in Serie A, and will be looking for help from the experienced players on their roster, like Goran Pandev, formerly an inter player of course, and knows how to win matches, and has often been the man who can decide a match result by himself.
This is definitely an intriguing match, and both sides have something to prove. Can Inter start making a push up the top of the league, and finally challenge for the Scudetto?
Can Genoa have a more comfortable season than last year? It is too early to tell, but this match may provide some answers as to the path each club are on.
Hit us up on InterStats & SempreInter on Twitter using #InterStats before, during and after the game for coverage of the fixture.