Preview:Hellas Verona vs Inter Milan – prediction, team news, lineups

Aiming to keep the pressure on Serie A‘s top two, Inter Milan will visit Hellas Verona at Stadio Bentegodi on Sunday.

While Inter are flying high after defeating Fiorentina in midweek, Hellas have yet to win a league game this season.

Match preview

Beaten by Napoli in last week’s feisty clash of title contenders, Inter bounced straight back with a 3-0 win on Wednesday evening.

After seeing a seven-game success streak ended in Naples, the Nerazzurri took over an hour to break through against Fiorentina, but Hakan Calhanoglu struck twice either side of Petar Sucic scoring his first Serie A goal. 

Victory took Inter up to third place in the table, with 18 points from nine matches, after city rivals AC Milan slipped up once again.

Cristian Chivu‘s men are perched just behind both Roma and current leaders Napoli, so they will want to maintain momentum by winning again this weekend.

While they have already suffered two losses on their travels, only victory will do in Verona – particularly as Hellas are Inter’s favourite opponents.

They have beaten Sunday’s hosts more times (42) than anyone else in Serie A, after winning both games without conceding last season – including a 5-0 stroll at the Bentegodi.

When the sides most recently met, back in May, Inter triumphed 1-0 at San Siro, and Verona have only won one league game since.

The Gialloblu’s sole success this term came in a mid-August Coppa Italia tie – on penalties, against Audace Cerignola – so they are enduring something of a crisis.

After fumbling a precious 2-0 lead to draw with Cagliari last weekend, Paolo Zanetti‘s side were well beaten by Como on Wednesday, leaving them inside the Serie A drop zone. 

With only five points and five goals on the board, Hellas have made a miserable start to Zanetti’s second season in charge, and a long scrap for survival lies ahead.

Though they have actually suffered just one loss from four home fixtures, finally ending a 10-match winless run at the Bentegodi will be a very tall task against Inter.

Hellas Verona Serie A form:

D L L D D L

Hellas Verona form (all competitions):

L L L D D L

Inter Milan Serie A form:

W W W W L W

Inter Milan form (all competitions):

W W W W L W

Team News

After another midweek match – and ahead of home games against Kairat and Lazio before the next international break – Inter boss Chivu could make several changes on Sunday.

Francesco Acerbi was rested on Wednesday evening, so the Nerazzurri’s defensive rock should return to the starting XI; Ange-Yoan Bonny might also be recalled.

The latter will vie with Francesco Pio Esposito to partner Lautaro Martinez, who has previously scored six goals against Verona, as Marcus Thuram has only just returned to training.

Inter captain Martinez is usually his team’s main marksman, but set-piece and mid-range specialist Calhanoglu has been their most prolific player so far, already registering five league goals. 

Meanwhile, Suat Serdar and Gift Orban are the only men to score more than once for Verona this season, both finding the net twice in Serie A. 

Orban often joins Brazilian forward Giovane up front, but it has not been a particularly productive pairing thus far.

Not only is Serdar’s presence in some doubt due to a muscular issue, but the hosts are also missing several squad members: Grigoris Kastanos, Unai Nunez, Daniel Oyegoke, Moatasem Al-Musrati and Tomas Suslov all feature on a long absence list.

Hellas Verona possible starting lineup:

Montipo; Bella-Kotchap, Nelsson, Valentini; Belghali, Serdar, Gagliardini, Bernede, Frese; Giovane, Orban

AC Milan possible starting lineup:

Sommer; Akanji, Acerbi, Bastoni; Dumfries, Barella, Calhanoglu, Sucic, Augusto; Bonny, Martinez

We say: Hellas Verona 0-2 Inter Milan 

Inter may have lost five of their last 12 top-flight away games, but they are not likely to slip up in Verona.

The hosts’ winless run against the Nerazzurri is set to reach 29 Serie A matches, and their drought in this season’s league campaign will go on.

For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.

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