Serie A Preview: Inter vs Lecce – Team News, Lineups & Prediction | OneFootball

Serie A pacesetters Inter return to action tonight as they entertain relegation-threatened Lecce at Stadio San Siro. Cristian Chivu’s side will be out to make amends for Sunday’s home draw against Napoli.

Despite taking the lead twice, Inter couldn’t beat Antonio Conte’s side at Giuseppe Meazza. Indeed, Scott McTominay’s double canceled out goals from Federico Dimarco and Hakan Calhanoglu, condemning the Nerazzurri to a third consecutive home draw against the reigning champions.

Despite that setback, Inter head into proceedings as the league leaders, boasting a three-point lead over second-placed Milan. With that in mind, there’s little room for error this evening, as Chivu aims to win the Scudetto in his first season in charge of the club.

Visiting Lecce would likely have to pull off a miracle to throw a spanner in the works, particularly considering their awful run of form. A 2-1 home defeat to Parma extended the visitors’ winless league streak to four matches (D1, L3), leaving them on the periphery of the bottom three.

Indeed, Eusebio Di Francesco’s men sit only three points clear of 17th-placed Fiorentina, highlighting the importance of tonight’s clash. However, with the odds heavily stacked against them here, Lecce will need an extraordinary performance to halt an underwhelming six-game losing run against Inter.

Match Preview

Inter

With Milan and Napoli breathing down their necks, Inter cannot afford a slip-up in this fixture. Yet, the Nerazzurri have been ruthless against Lecce, beating this opposition in their last 11 meetings at San Siro, with eight of those victories also producing a clean sheet.

Grabbing an early lead would likely set the tone for another success, not least because of the Nerazzurri’s impressive record after breaking the deadlock this term. Before squandering the lead twice en route to their first league draw of the season, Inter had dropped points from winning positions just once in 15 top-flight games under Chivu (W14, L1).

However, it’s worth noting that Milan and Napoli are the only two teams to have taken points off Inter across their last eight Serie A outings at Giuseppe Meazza (W6, D1, L1). Furthermore, Chivu’s charges have netted precisely one first-half goal in a league-high 11 matches this season, highlighting the potential for a fast start.

Lecce

Destined for another season-long fight against the drop, Lecce will likely focus on picking up points against the league’s lesser sides, aiming to grind out results where possible. To better understand the size of the task awaiting the Giallorossi tonight, you’d need to go back to 2000 for Lecce’s last away win over Inter.

Moreover, the visitors have suffered defeat in five of their last eight road matches across all competitions (W2, D1). It’s also worth mentioning that their only two wins during that sequence yielded a narrow one-goal margin. That’s hardly surprising, considering no team has scored fewer Serie A goals than Lecce’s 13 this season.

As if that’s not troubling enough, Di Francesco’s men have averaged just 0.75 goals per away league game. On that basis, it’s understandable that falling behind has often led to their detriment, with Lecce losing 11 of the 12 league matches in which their opposition took the lead.

Team News

Despite netting his seventh Serie A goal of the season, Calhanoglu suffered a calf injury in the late stages of Sunday’s clash against Napoli. Therefore, he has joined Inter’s long-term absentees, Raffaele Di Gennaro, Denzel Dumfries, and Tomas Palacios in the pits. With Calhanoglu injured, Piotr Zielinski is likely to take his role as the deep-lying playmaker.

On the other hand, Lecce will be without Medon Berisha and Balthazar Pierret. Both players are on the sidelines due to injuries. Meanwhile, Lameck Banda, Kialonda Gaspar, and Ylber Ramadani will serve suspensions after an ill-tempered home match against Parma.

Inter vs Lecce Potential Starting Lineups

Inter (3-5-2): Sommer; Bisseck, Acerbi, Augusto; Henrique, Barella, Sucic, Zielinski, Dimarco; Bonny, Thuram.

Lecce (4-3-3): Falcone; Veiga, Gabriel, Perez, Gallo; Kaba, Coulibaly, Maleh; Pierotti, Stulic, Sottil.

Inter vs Lecce Prediction

This showdown has all the makings of a ‘David vs Goliath’ clash, and it’s almost impossible to give Lecce an ounce of chance to upset the apple cart tonight. Chivu’s forwards are firing on all cylinders, and the visitors cannot realistically hope to shut Inter out without Gaspar at the heart of their defense.