MY ACCOUNT
Inter Milan will be desperate to get back on track against sixth-placed Torino on Saturday after enduring a terrible week.
A 3-2 derby loss to AC Milan left Simone Inzaghi’s side eighth in the Serie A table after five fixtures and they followed that defeat up with a lacklustre display in their opening game in the Champions League against Bayern Munich, eventually going down 2-0 at the San Siro.
The 2020-21 title success is already looking like an aberration and they have only started a campaign as poorly three times in the last 20 years.
Defensive trio Milan Skriniar, Stefan de Vrij and Alessandro Bastoni have all been unreliable in the opening month of the season while there is still too much reliance on the 36-year-old Edin Dzeko for goals.
Torino have made a solid start to the season and although they did suffer a 3-1 loss at Atalanta earlier this month, they bounced back by defeating Lecce 1-0 on Monday.
That victory was their third three-point haul of the season, having already seen off Monza and Cremonese on their travels.
Team news
The pressure is growing on Inzaghi after a run of three defeats in four games across all competitions and an ’emergency’ meeting involving players, staff members and directors was reportedly held in the dressing room after the dispiriting loss to Bayern.
The Nerazzurri once again look set to be without the injured Romelu Lukaku so Argentina international duo Lautaro Martinez and Joaquin Correa are expected to start in attack with Dzeko an option from the bench.
Brazilian left-back Dalbert is the only other injury Inzaghi currently has to worry about.
In contrast, Torino head coach Ivan Juric has a lengthy injury list to contend with as Albanian goalkeeper Etrit Berisha, Wilfried Singo, loanee Aleksei Miranchuk and Samuele Ricci are all currently sidelined and will sit out Saturday’s game.
The stats
Six months ago Inter needed a stoppage-time equaliser from the now departed Alexis Sanchez to draw 1-1 in Turin after edging the home contest between the two teams 1-0.
However, Inter are unbeaten against Torino since January 2019 and they have won 77 of the 187 matches between the two sides, losing on 55 occasions.
Last term, Torino finished 10th in the final standings, eight places and 34 points behind Inter who scored 84 goals in contrast to the Turin-based outfit’s paltry 46.
Prediction
Despite Inter’s problems on the road, they have won their last six home Serie A games, including a 3-0 victory against Spezia and 3-1 triumph over Cremonese this term.
Only Napoli have scored more goals than Inter’s 11 in the first five games of the campaign while Torino have only conceded five times so far this term.
A low-scoring affair looks to be on the cards with the pressure on Inzaghi, who will have one eye on Tuesday’s Champions League clash in the Czech Republic against Viktoria Plzen, possibly easing after an edgy 1-0 victory.
