Inter Milan head into Sunday’s clash with Juventus in fine spirits after snatching a last gasp win at Young Boys while their Serie A title rivals are struggling to fire under new coach Thiago Motta.
The champions are two points behind league leaders Napoli before what is traditionally the biggest league match of their season, a red-hot rivalry which easily tops the Milan derby for pure hatred.
Simone Inzaghi’s team are a point ahead of third-placed Juve and in good spirits even with injuries beginning to pile up.
Already without key men Hakan Calhanoglu and Francesco Acerbi after both picked up thigh injuries at Roma last weekend, Carlos Augusto was the latest Inter player to pull up during Wednesday’s 1-0 win in Bern.
Inzaghi was forced to bring on his stars after the second string struggled in Switzerland, with Marko Arnautovic and Mehdi Taremi proving to be weak deputies for Lautaro Martinez and Marcus Thuram.
Arnautovic fluffed a penalty before Thuram struck, highlighting the difference when Inter’s first choice attack partnership are on the field.
And with the games coming thick and fast and more injuries to surely come due to a packed calendar, Inzaghi will need his squad players to perform better than on Wednesday, although Juve have problems of their own and had wildly contrasting fortunes midweek.
Juve fell to their first defeat of the season at the hands of Stuttgart, Motta’s team being sunk in stoppage time in Turin after a dreadful display which would have ended in a more embarrassing scoreline had Mattia Perin not performed goalkeeping heroics and saved a late penalty.
Not helping Motta’s cause are a clutch of injuries, the latest a thigh problem for Douglas Luiz who hasn’t impressed since signing for over 50 million euros in the summer.
Nicolas Gonzalez and Teun Koopmeiners are both still out with the latter in particular missed for a Juve team which is struggling to create and score opportunities.
Anything but a win for either team will likely lead to further loss of ground to Napoli, who host on Saturday a Lecce team without a win in five matches and on a run of three defeats on the bounce, the latest a 6-0 home humbling at the hands of Fiorentina.
While their rivals slug it out in the long league phases of UEFA’s revamped European competitions, Napoli will have had a full week to prepare for what should be a routine win.
Antonio Conte’s side have won six of their seven league fixtures since a 3-0 humiliation at Verona on the opening day of the season, only dropping points at Juve in that run.
Stanislav Lobotoka will still be absent in midfield due to a thigh injury picked up on international duty, leaving space for Billy Gilmour to show what he can do after a shaky debut in last weekend’s 1-0 win at Empoli.
Player to watch: Rafael Leao
Once Milan’s golden boy, Rafael Leao is increasingly looking out of sorts under Paulo Fonseca, who insists that he is not punishing the Portugal winger with recent selection decisions that have come after reported incidences of ill discipline.
Leao was left out of last weekend’s win over Udinese and then substituted on the hour mark during Milan’s 3-1 win over Club Brugge in the Champions League with the two teams level at one each.
Seconds later Milan were in front and heading for victory, and his replacement Samuel Chukwueze laid on Tijjani Reijnders for the decisive third.
Leao is likely to start at Bologna and will have to up his game after a poor start to the season which has left fans frustrated and in part led to Milan being five points off the pace in fourth.
Fixtures (times GMT)
Friday
Udinese v Cagliari (1630), Torino v Como (1845)
Saturday
Napoli v Lecce (1300), Bologna v AC Milan (1600), Atalanta v Verona (1845)
Sunday
Parma v Empoli (1030), Monza v Venezia, Lazio Genoa (1300), Inter Juventus (1600), Fiorentina v Roma (1845)
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