AS Roma vs Inter Milan preview

August 24, 2017
By: Nemanja Lazarevic

AS Roma and Inter Milan both hope to mount a serious title challenge this season and the match at Stadio Olimpico will be a perfect setting to prove their title ambitions.

Both sides recorded morale-boosting wins in their opening fixtures, which should guarantee us an entertaining encounter on Saturday evening.

AS Roma showed a great deal of potential under Luciano Spalletti, but couldn’t quite challenge Juventus for the league trophy, with Eusebio Di Francesco now hoping to take the club to the next level.

The former Sassuolo boss will have some squad rebuilding to do after the likes of Mohamed Salah, Leandro Paredes and Antonio Rudiger were sold, but there have been some notable arrivals as well.

Aleksandar Kolarov, Gregoire Defrel, Cenk Under, Hector Moreno, Maxime Gonalons, Lorenzo Pellegrini and Rick Karsdorp all joined, but so far only Defrel and Kolarov have secured starting berth.

In spite of some under-par performances in pre-season, AS Roma did well to defeat last season’s surprise package Atalanta on the road in their opening game.

As expected, the Giallorossi did not impress, but summer recruit Aleksandar Kolarov secured the important win with a free-kick goal.

The win came at a cost as full-back Bruno Peres picked up an injury, meaning that Kostas Manolas will move to right-back and Federico Fazio will play in the heart of defence.

Emerson and Rick Karsdorp remain on the sidelines, while Alessandro Florenzi could be back in contention for the Inter Milan clash.

Probable starting line-up (4-3-3): Alisson – Manolas, Fazio, Juan Jesus, Kolarov – Strootman, De Rossi, Nainggolan – Defrel, Dzeko, Perotti.

Seeing that he never got the respect he deserved from the AS Roma chiefs and fans alike, Luciano Spalletti will have an extra motive to win at Stadio Olimpico with his new side.

The highly rated tactician has slowly began transforming the Nerazzurri, allowing Ever Banega, Gary Medel, Jeison Murillo and Geoffrey Kondogbia to leave.

Meanwhile, he has signed Borja Valero, Matias Vecino, Joao Cancelo, Dalbert Henrique and Milan Skriniar among others, while few more quality footballers are expected to arrive in the coming days.

Inter Milan enjoyed a very successful pre-season, defeating the likes of Lyon (1-0), Bayern (2-0), Chelsea (2-1), Villarreal (3-1) and Real Betis (1-0), so nobody was surprised to see them enjoy a bright start to the league campaign.

The Nerazzurri recorded a resounding 3-0 triumph over Fiorentina, with Mauro Icardi (2) and Ivan Perisic getting on the scoresheet and they are now 41/20 to win at Stadio Olimpico.

Luciano Spalletti has absolutely no selection worries at the moment, but new signings Dalbert Henrique and Joao Cancelo are unlikely to start.

Probable starting line-up (4-2-3-1): Handanovic – D’Ambrosio, Skriniar, Miranda, Nagatomo – Borja Valero, Vecino – Candreva, Brozovic, Perisic – Icardi.

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