Southampton vs Inter Milan preview

November 2, 2016
By: Nemanja Lazarevic

After suffering a 1-0 defeat at Stadio Giuseppe Meazza, Southampton will be out to get revenge on Inter Milan and at the same time edge closer to the Europa League knockout stages.

The Nerazzurri have just sacked Frank de Boer and interim manager Stefano Vecchi will be hoping to help his players show some improvement and keep their qualifying hopes alive.

Even if this is still a team in the making, Southampton have done fairly well under new manager Claude Puel, but it was no means easy to balance it out between the Premier League and Europa League campaigns.

And while the strongest side have been battling it out with England’s leading teams week in week out, the European campaign have the new boss a chance to test his back-ups and also give talented youngsters much needed playing time.

Midway through the group stage, the Saints occupy second place in the standings, two points behind leaders Sparta Prague and one point clear of bottom-placed Inter Milan.

And seeing as how the victory over the Nerazzurri would put them in a good position to qualify, you should know that home win pays 1.75 (3/4).

Despite fielding severely weakened sides in previous Europa League matches, Claude Puel is widely expected to resist the temptation to rest his star men.

A couple of them will miss out, while Cedric Soares, Jeremy Pied, Jay Rodriguez, Matt Targett and Shane Long are all out injured.

Probable starting line-up (4-3-3): Forster – Martin, Fonte, van Dijk, Bertrand – Ward-Prowse, Romeu, Davis – Boufal, Austin, Redmond.

In spite of the heavy investment in the playing squad, this is proving to be yet another disappointing season for Inter Milan.

Frank de Boer has now paid the price for some disappointing results, with youth team coach Stefano Vecchi taking over on temporary basis.

Inter Milan had remained in contention for the EL knockout rounds thanks to the narrow win over Southampton, but the team have since struggled on domestic stage.

The Nerazzurri went on to lose two of next three league fixtures, slipping to 12th in the overall standings, so they clearly head to St Mary’s in poor spirits.

In an attempt to improve the dressing room atmosphere, Stefano Vecchi has taken 24 players to England, despite the fact that Joao Mario, Gabriel Barbosa and Geoffrey Kondogbia are ineligible.

Meanwhile, Stevan Jovetic was denied a travel visa, whereas fellow forward Rodrigo Palacio misses out through injury. Marcelo Brozovic is suspended.

Probable starting line-up (4-3-3): Handanovic – Nagatomo, Miranda, Murillo, Santon – Banega, Medel, Gnoukouri – Candreva, Icardi, Perisic.

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