Inter Milan will travel to Udine this Sunday to face a high-flying Udinese who are looking to maintain their strong start to the season ahead of the international break.
Venue: Dacia Arena (Udine)
Key Statistics
Udinese are unbeaten in their last four games at home (W3, D1).
They have kept three consecutive clean sheets in their last three games at home.
The hosts have failed to score in seven of the nine H2H matches against Inter (D2, L7).
Inter Milan have lost their last two away games.
They have conceded six goals across their last two away games.
They have scored 12 goals in the league this season. Only Napoli (13) have scored more.
Head to head
Inter Milan have enjoyed superiority in this fixture in recent times. They are unbeaten against their rivals in their last nine meetings, winning seven times. Their last loss against Udinese came in a 3-1 loss at the San Siro in 2017.
Latest performances in all competitions
Udinese: W-W-W-W-D
Inter Milan: W-W-L-L-W
Udinese
Serie A surprise package of the new season, Udinese will look to make it five wins in five league games when they welcome title-chasing Inter Milan to Dacia Arena on Sunday.
The hosts have enjoyed a remarkable start to the new season and come into this tie with 13 points on the board after winning four and losing just one (D1) of their opening six league games.
Their last outing was a 3-1 comeback win over Sassuolo. The win followed a 4-0 thrashing of Jose Mourinho’s AS Roma and ensured that Andrea Sottil’s side come into this round of games sitting in fourth place.
Although the 13 points they have gathered so far represents their best-ever total after six top-flight games, Sottil has said he doesn’t want to get “carried away” as he plots a first top-four finish since 2011/12.
His side can post five straight Serie A wins for the first time since December 2017 if they can win this game. But having failed to score in seven of the nine H2H matches since beating Inter in 2017, there’s a potential mental barrier that Udinese may have to surmount if they want to win this game and remain in the top four going into the international break.
Possible Udinese starting line-up
Marco Silvestri; Rodrigo Becao, Enzo Ebosse, Nehuen Perez; Roberto Pereyra, Sandi Lovric, Walace, Tolgay Arslan, Destiny Udogie; Gerard Deulofeu, Isaac Success.
Injured: Leonardo Buta, Adam Masina, Jaka Bijol
Doubtful: None
Suspended: None
Inter Milan
Inter Milan made it two wins in their last two games when they beat Viktoria Plzen in the second round of the UEFA Champions League group stage on Tuesday.
The visitors had lost their first UCL game of the season against Bayern Munich, but bounced back in midweek, defeating Plzen 2-0 to maintain their hopes of qualifying from their tough group.
The win followed a 1-0 win over Torino last weekend and means that Simone Inzaghi’s side come into this game with two consecutive clean sheets in the bag. They will now hope to record another shutout and another win for the first time this season.
Having lost their last two away league games (3-1 to Lazio and 3-2 to AC Milan) while conceding six goals in each game, Inter risks losing three in a row for the first time since May 2017. Inzaghi will seek improvements to avoid such a catastrophic showing as he seeks to keep his side within touching distance with Napoli and Atalanta, who sit two points ahead at the top of the table on goal difference.
Possible Inter Milan starting line-up
Samir Handanovic; Stefan de Vrij, Milan Skriniar, Alessandro Bastoni; Denzel Dumfries, Marcelo Brozovic, Nicolo Barella, Henrikh Mkhitaryan, Matteo Darmian; Edin Dzeko, Lautaro Martinez.
Injured: Romelu Lukaku, Hakan Calhanoglu
Doubtful: None
Suspended: None
Prediction
Udinese 2-2 Inter Milan
