Inter Milan vs Sampdoria

Stadio Giuseppe Meazza is the venue, as Scudetto-bidding Inter Milan and newly-promoted Lecce go head-to-head in contrasting Serie A circumstances.

Fresh from a 4-0 home thumping of Viktoria Plzen in midweek Champions League action, which sealed their progression into the knockouts at the expense of Barcelona, Inter Milan will be looking to maintain their upturn in form. Simone Inzaghi’s side eked out a dramatic 4-3 victory away to Fiorentina last weekend to take their winning Serie A streak to three straight matches and reduce the gap on fourth-placed Atalanta to three points. Interestingly, none of Inter’s last 21 top-flight outings have ended as a draw, accounting for the club’s longest such run since the 1940s. Ending that streak would be a massive upset for ‘I Nerazzurri,’ who have been victorious in eight of their last ten Serie A clashes against Sampdoria (D1, L1), including a 3-0 demolition in this corresponding fixture in 2021/22.

In the meantime, visiting Sampdoria squeezed past fellow early relegation candidates Cremonese 1-0 on the road last time out to break their Serie A duck this season (D3, L7). Despite leading his new employers to their maiden top-flight success of the season, manager Dejan Stankovic can ill-afford to rest on his laurels as his men head into proceedings two points adrift of safety. The number one priority on Stankovic’s assignment list is addressing his side’s scoring woes. After netting a league-low six goals in the opening 11 Serie A rounds, at an average of 0.54 per match, ‘La Doria’ come into this encounter amid the club’s worst scoring start to a top-flight season since 1975/76. They can at least draw some confidence from bagging precisely one goal per game across their last four league travels (W1, D1, L2).