Inter v Saint Etienne – Europa League Preview: Nerazzuri Shoot For Third Victory

Date: 23rd October 2014 at 8:00am
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Europa League action continues this Thursday night when Inter welcome their Group F second place rivals Saint Etienne to the Stadio Giuseppe Meazza in Milan.

Walter Mazzarri’s men will gladly welcome the distraction from Serie A play, where the side now sit at ninth place in the Serie A table. Bouts of inconsistency have resulted in losses to the likes of Cagliari and Fiorentina,  followed with a last gasp draw earned against Napoli in the final minutes of play on the weekend. Les Verts will be carrying some momentum to Italy after snapping a three game winless run against with a 1-0 win over Lorient on the weekend, which put the side into fifth place in Ligue 1.

Thursday’s match could provide some much needed variety in the group results, since Inter are the only team to find the back of the net thus far in Group F and already look poised for the next round of the competition. The two sides will meet for the first time in their club histories, with the Nerazzurri defending a run of eight games unbeaten at home in Europe.

Saint Etienne need to snap a three game winless run in European competition to make some progress. So far, the club is the only side to have played their opening two matches to goalless draws, and will need to find their clinical nature in what should be a stern test against Inter.

Fredy Guarin will face the team that first welcomed him to Europe in 2006 at age 20. The Colombian eventually made 31 appearances for the French side over two seasons and scored one goal.

Danilo D’Ambrosio has made the most of his appearances for Mazzarri by scoring in both previous group-stage fixtures, but is now out for up to six weeks of action with a knee ligament injury. Christophe Galtier, who won the Coupe de la Ligue with Les Verts in 2012-13, will try to keep his side in contention after seeing a total of 23 attempts fail to convert into goals thus far.

Along with D’Ambrosio, Mazzari will be limited without the services of Jonathan, Hugo Campagnaro, Pablo Osvaldo, and Yuto Nagatomo and Gary Medel for the match.  Saint Etienne will also need to adjust without Melvut Erdinc, Francois Clerc, Romain Hamouma, and club captain Loic Perrin for their trip to Milan.

Expected Starting XIs

Inter: Handanovic; Juan Jesus, Vidic, Ranocchia, Dodò; M’Vila, Hernanes, Kovacic, Obi; Icardi, Palacio

Saint Etienne: Ruffier; Theophile-Catherine, Bayall Sall,  Brison, Tabanou; Lemoine,  Clement, Gradel, Saint Maximin, Monnet-Paquet; Diomande

 

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