Lazio vs Inter

April 29, 2016
By: Milos Markovic

Inter are determined to keep their top four chances alive as they prepare for a high-profile match against Lazio on Sunday night. Biancocelesti on their part look to bounce back from back-to-back defeats and we should be in for an exciting duel between two Serie A powerhouses.

Lazio sliding down

Tied on points with Chievo, Lazio find themselves sitting at the ninth place in the Serie A standings, five points adrift of the Europa League qualifying spot held by AC Milan. Should they recover from their most recent slump of back-to-back defeats, Le Aquile just need a timely winning run to be propelled into Europa League fight. The odds are stacked against them thought as Simone Inzaghi’s men have been winless in four of their last six matches. Last Sunday’s 2-1 loss at Sampdoria has been particularly upsetting with Lazio’s Filip Djordjevic opening the scorings for Lazio, who failed to hold on to the lead ultimately losing the match through goals from Fernando and Diakite. The pressure is now on the Rome-based club to go out and record what would be a huge morale-boosting win over Inter. Lazio will be eager to end the season on a high in order to rebuild their team, starting from the coaching position. Cesare Prandelli has emerged as a favourite to replace Lazio caretaker Inzaghi at the helm at the end of the season.

List of injured players is not getting any shorter for Lazio who will be without as much as seven first-team players. Stefan De Vrij, Stefan Radu, Ricardo Kishna, Milan Bisevac, Miroslav Klose, Alessandro Matri and Marco Parolo are all ruled out of action.

Top four finish a disappointment

For the team which started the Serie A season on a high, the running campaign has proved to be quite a disappointment for Inter Milan. Roberto Mancini has been brought to get this club back on the path of success and was granted a substantial amount of money during the transfer windows in order to achieve his goals. The Italian ultimately failed as his missed investments ended up costing the team a top finish. In all honesty, Mancini did manage to create a tightly packed unit at the back, but his team struggled to a great extent in attack. With only three games remaining in the season, grabbing a Champions League berth would be far-fetched, despite a slightly improved patch of form which saw Inter record an impressive 3-1 win over Udinese. Cyril Thereau opened the scorings for Udine, but Mancini’s men rose up to the challenge to turn the result around through a brace from Stevan Jovetic and an injury time goal from Eder.

Visiting team will have no injury worries for the Sunday showdown and Roberto Mancini will be glad to have his full crop of players to choose from. Perisic and Jovetic will have to be careful though as they are one booking away from a yellow card suspension.

Verdict

Last couple of games between the two rivals proved to be quite interesting and openly contested affairs, so there is no reason why we should not expect a similar scenario. Both teams have plenty to fight for and I expect to see goals at both ends.

Top pick: Both teams to score – yes   1.69 (9/13) @888Sport

Alternative pick 1: Over 2.5 goals   1.91 (10/11) @WilliamHill

Alternative pick 2: Away win   3.4 (12/5) @StanJames

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