On Sunday, the 28th of January, as part of the 22nd round of the Italian Serie A, Fiorentina will host Inter at their home ground. The Nerazzurri had a successful week at the country's Super Cup, while the Viola are still in the running for a spot in the top four.
Fiorentina: Terracciano; Kayode, Milenkovic, Martinez Quarta, Parisi; Duncan, Arthur; Gonzalez, Bonaventura, Sottil; Beltran.
Inter: Sommer; Pavard, De Vrij, Acerbi; Darmian, Frattesi, Asllani, Mkhitaryan, Dimarco; Thuram, Martinez.
Fiorentina are striving to secure a ticket to the Eurocups through the championship and so far live up to the expectations of their fans, holding the 5th place in the Serie A table and trailing the 4th position by 2 points. The overall density is such that the hosts are just 3 points ahead of Torino, who are 9th in the line-up. After five rounds without defeat (four wins and one draw), the Tuscan side couldn't succeed in their last two games: they lost to Sassuolo (1:0) and then gave away points to Udinese at home (2:2).
Having made it to the Coppa Italia semi-finals, Fiorentina surrendered to Napoli in the country's Super Cup semi-finals last week (3:0). Vincenzo Italiano's team also failed to score in three out of their last four matches, one of which lasted 120 minutes and ended with a victory over Bologna in the penalty shootout. Having secured the top position in their Conference League group, the Viola advanced directly to the knockout stages and can focus on the domestic front until March.
Inter are one of the major favourites for Scudetto this season. Being second in the Serie A table with two games in hand and 2 points behind Juventus, the Lombardy side meets the expectations of their supporters. The Nerazzurri have suffered only one defeat since the start of the season in the national championship, and that loss happened at the end of September against Sassuolo. After a draw with Genoa (1:1), Inter returned to the winning path, claiming victories over Hellas Verona (2:1) and Monza (1:5), which allowed them to exceed 50 points after 20 rounds for the second time in their illustrious history.
The previous week, Simone Inzaghi's pupils won the Italian Super Cup, beating Lazio (3:0) in the semi-finals and Napoli (1:0) in the final – all decided by a late goal from Lautaro Martinez. Additionally, the Milan club finished second in their Champions League group and will face Atletico Madrid in the tournament's round of 16.
The Sunday's hosts have won only one of their last 13 meetings with Inter - a 1:0 at San Siro in April of the previous year.
Fiorentina's performances in the current campaign can be impressive, but the Viola are losing points to top opponents too frequently. As of now, Inter appear as a ruthless grinding machine against any team, and the Nerazzurri have every chance to reclaim the top spot at the end of this round. The Inzaghi's men are simply stronger at the moment, so my bet goes to Inter's victory.
In their last four head-to-head games, Inter has struck 10 goals against the Viola. Given the stunning form of Lautaro Martinez, I will take the risk and bet on the Argentine to score tonight.
Both teams practice an exclusively attacking style of football and won't sit deep in defence. I expect an open game with at least 10 corners taken.
Neither team is known for their excessive roughness on the field and in the first leg there were only two yellow cards for both teams combined. I am going for under 4.5 total yellow cards.
I am placing a bet for the exact score of 1:2 in favour of Inter.
# | Team | P | W | D | L | GD | G | PTS | |
1 | Inter | 3 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 6 | 8:2 | 7 | |
2 | Juventus | 3 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 6 | 6:0 | 7 | |
3 | Torino | 3 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 5:3 | 7 | |
4 | Udinese | 3 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 4:2 | 7 | |
5 | Verona | 3 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 5:3 | 6 | |
6 | Napoli | 3 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 5:4 | 6 | |
7 | Empoli | 3 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 3:2 | 5 | |
8 | Lazio | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 6:5 | 4 | |
9 | Parma | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 4:4 | 4 | |
10 | Genoa | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | -1 | 3:4 | 4 | |
11 | Fiorentina | 3 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3:3 | 3 | |
12 | Atalanta | 3 | 1 | 0 | 2 | -1 | 5:6 | 3 | |
13 | Lecce | 3 | 1 | 0 | 2 | -5 | 1:6 | 3 | |
14 | AC Milan | 3 | 0 | 2 | 1 | -1 | 5:6 | 2 | |
15 | Monza | 3 | 0 | 2 | 1 | -1 | 2:3 | 2 | |
16 | AS Roma | 3 | 0 | 2 | 1 | -1 | 1:2 | 2 | |
17 | Cagliari | 3 | 0 | 2 | 1 | -1 | 1:2 | 2 | |
18 | Bologna | 3 | 0 | 2 | 1 | -3 | 2:5 | 2 | |
19 | Venezia | 3 | 0 | 1 | 2 | -3 | 1:4 | 1 | |
20 | Como | 3 | 0 | 1 | 2 | -4 | 1:5 | 1 | |
1 | Inter | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 6:0 | 6 | |
2 | Udinese | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3:1 | 6 | |
3 | Napoli | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5:1 | 6 | |
4 | Juventus | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 3:0 | 4 | |
5 | Lazio | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 5:3 | 4 | |
6 | Parma | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 3:2 | 4 | |
7 | Torino | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2:1 | 3 | |
8 | Verona | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 3:3 | 3 | |
9 | Lecce | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1:4 | 3 | |
10 | Fiorentina | 2 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2:2 | 2 | |
11 | Cagliari | 2 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1:1 | 2 | |
12 | Bologna | 2 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2:2 | 2 | |
13 | Empoli | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0:0 | 1 | |
14 | Genoa | 2 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2:4 | 1 | |
15 | AC Milan | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2:2 | 1 | |
16 | Atalanta | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0:0 | 0 | |
17 | Monza | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0:1 | 0 | |
18 | AS Roma | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1:2 | 0 | |
19 | Venezia | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0:1 | 0 | |
20 | Como | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0:0 | 0 | |
1 | Torino | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 3:2 | 4 | |
2 | Empoli | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 3:2 | 4 | |
3 | Juventus | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3:0 | 3 | |
4 | Verona | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2:0 | 3 | |
5 | Genoa | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1:0 | 3 | |
6 | Atalanta | 3 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 5:6 | 3 | |
7 | Monza | 2 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2:2 | 2 | |
8 | AS Roma | 2 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0:0 | 2 | |
9 | Inter | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2:2 | 1 | |
10 | Udinese | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1:1 | 1 | |
11 | Fiorentina | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1:1 | 1 | |
12 | AC Milan | 2 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 3:4 | 1 | |
13 | Venezia | 2 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1:3 | 1 | |
14 | Como | 3 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 1:5 | 1 | |
15 | Napoli | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0:3 | 0 | |
16 | Lazio | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1:2 | 0 | |
17 | Parma | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1:2 | 0 | |
18 | Lecce | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0:2 | 0 | |
19 | Cagliari | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0:1 | 0 | |
20 | Bologna | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0:3 | 0 |
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