With the results from Spezia and Napoli yesterday, this was a golden opportunity for Inter to go top ahead of the Derby Della Madonnina next weekend.

Stood in their way however was an in-form Lazio. The Romans started on the front foot and Inter absorbed some pressure but when Lautaro was adjudged to have brought down by Hoedt, Romelu stood up and set Inter on their way to 3 points.

There was a lot of nervousness as Inter are prone to collapses in such games, but a clearance fell to Romelu in space and with the help from VAR, Inter were 2-0 up at the half time break.

The defense was perfect in the first half and Lazio had all the play but no major chances to show for it. A deflection from a free kick beat Handanovic to momentarily make it 2-1 but Lukaku rose again to blast past Parolo and set up Lautaro for a tap in, into an empty net.

Then on it was just a case of not getting any bookings for the 3 B’s namely Brozovic, Barella and Bastoni and it all went to plan for Conte. 

Samir Handanovic – 6: Great first half on his 500th career appearance. Not many difficult saves to make. Awake to coming out to clear. Could not do much on Lazio’s goal.

Milan Skriniar – 8: Immobile and Correa are a handful for most defenders but Skriniar was ready for them. Always there to make crucial headers and stop one-twos.

Stefan De Vrij – 7: Calm and collected performance by Stefan against his former club. Kept the ball moving well even when Lazio pressed. Positioning was spot on.

Alessandro Bastoni – 7: Another performance that is way better than what a regular young defender should be doing. No mistakes. Composed. Always looking for Lukaku.

Achraf Hakimi – 6: Not the best games for Achraf who was well marked by Lazio. Marusic did not give him much space to run into. Decent defensive work for 90 minutes.

Nicolo Barella – 7: Continued his purple patch and wins the ball when he did not have any right to numerous times. Was Inter’s pressure release valve when it got tough.

Marcelo Brozovic – 7: Lazio’s game plan was to mark him and not let him get service. It worked for about 15 mins and then Brozo figured out where the space was. Class.

Christian Eriksen – 7: On his birthday, Eriksen produced another fine performance. Always got in the right position and played the right passes. Deserved at least an assist.

Ivan Perisic – 7: Tough start for Perisic and he needed a clearance from Samir to save him. After that though he was steely in defense and very generous in attack.

Lukaku – 9 : Imagine being out of form while scoring 5 goals in the last 5 games. Unlucky to get a booking. The assist to Lautaro describes Lukaku perfectly. Leader.

Lautaro Martinez – 7.5: Did not miss any major chances and worked his socks off tonight. Constant pain to the Lazio defense. Deserved a goal for the pressing alone tonight.

Roberto Gagliardini – 6: Conte brought Gagliardini on to bring some steel into the midfield and especially against Milinkovic-Savic. Kept calm and battled for his 20 minutes.

Alexis Sanchez – 6: Unlucky on a couple of occasions to not win a free kick. Ran nonstop in his 15 mins or so and with a little luck could have made an impact. Supersub.

Danilo D’Ambrosio – N/A: So nice to see D’Ambrosio back. Conte just wanted to hatch down the right wing and Hakimi was not having a lot of luck in attack. Important player.

Matteo Darmian – N/A: Brought on in the 90th minute to give Ivan Perisic some rest. Still enough time for him to get mad at Fabbri for not giving him a stonewall throw in.

Andrea Pinamonti – N/A: Another 3 minutes for Pinamonti as Lukaku looked tired from the 75th minute onwards. Against a weaker opponent maybe he will get more minutes.

Antonio Conte – 7.5: An almost perfect game plan. Inter sat too deep for some but Lazio were unable to break them down. The only goal came from a wicked deflection.

Michael Fabbri – 6,5: Had a decent start to the game with a lot of fair calls. Great use of VAR twice in the first half but then lost his way a little bit. Missed obvious fouls.

Inter – 9: Every single Interisti was fearing the worst. Everyone expected the Pazza Inter version to turn up and mess things up. This Inter deserves to be top.

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