Inter’s hopes of winning the Serie A title this season depend on four key players staying fit until May, a report in the Italian media argued today.

As per Gazzetta dello Sport, Antonio Conte has a maximum of 20 games left until the end of the season – 19 if they are knocked out by Juventus in next week’s Coppa Italia semi-final second leg – and needs to cross his fingers on the health of certain players.

Romelu Lukaku, Lautaro Martinez and Nicolo Barella were described as ‘truly irreplaceable’ in the Nerazzurri’s starting XI, three players without whom Inter became an almost average team.

The Milanese paper then added that Marcelo Brozovic was equally crucial for Conte, with the Croatian midfielder still lightyears ahead of Christian Eriksen, despite the Denmark international’s upturn in form.

In contrast, Conte needs to hope that Samir Handanovic, Alexis Sanchez and Arturo Vidal all improve their performances if the Scudetto was to stay a realistic target, the report suggested.

Gazzetta said Handanovic had only played like his true self once this season, against Napoli in December; Vidal needed to stop running out of energy after an hour in every match, leading Conte to take him off like against Juventus on Tuesday; and Sanchez needed to start scoring more goals.

Inter are second in the Serie A standings after 20 games, two points behind city rivals AC Milan.

Conte’s side would go top of the table with a win at Fiorentina tomorrow, and by doing so they would put pressure on the Rossoneri before they host Crotone on Sunday.