Internazionale vs Atalanta Preview

Inter Milan will welcome Atalanta to the San Siro this Friday for their second league game of the season.

After beginning their Serie A title defence with a disappointing 2-2 draw with Genoa, the hosts bounced back in their last game beating Lecce 2-0. That victory curiously marked the eighth time across their last eleven Serie A matches that the Nerazzurri have scored exactly twice.

Even more impressive is that the win was achieved without injured captain Lautaro Martínez. Coach Simone Inzaghi was quick to note the positives of not being “anchored” to a single player, especially with the Argentina striker a doubt for this match against Atalanta.

A strong head-to-head record should boost hopes that they can do the job without him, with Inter having won the last four league games against Atalanta, netting 12 goals in the process and helping make up their longest winning streak since December 2001 against their visitors.

Meanwhile, after opening their campaign with an impressive 4-0 win over Lecee, Atalanta fell to a 2-1 defeat in their second league game of the season. That loss was also Atalanta’s second defeat across three competitive matches (W1) this term. However, coach Gian Piero Gasperini still claimed to be “happy” with the improvements shown since the Super Cup final loss to Real Madrid.

That said, the setback at Torino ended what had been an impressive four-game away winning streak in the league. Getting that away run back on track will require Atalanta to improve another negative record here as they haven’t recorded a league win against Inter at the San Siro since March 2014 (D3, L7).

This game gets underway at 19:45 BST.

Other fixtures taking place this week in Serie A:

Serie A Table