Inter at the Stadio Renzo Barbera in Serie A on Saturday night, in a fixture that has produced some high scoring games over the past number of seasons.
The Rosanero will be boosted by last week’s 1-0 away win against struggling Bologna, while the Nerazzurri will be looking to end a three game winless streak.
Giuseppe Iachini’s men find themselves in 11th position after that victory at the Stadio Renato Dall’Ara last time out after losing their previous four games in a row. Their last victory before last weekend’s three points was at the end of August away to Udinese. Palermo have only won one of the four games at home so far this campaign, defeating Genoa on the opening day of the season thanks to an injury time winner from Abdelhamid El Kaoutari.
The Biscione are third in the standings thanks to five wins in a row at the start of the season, but have now gone three games without a victory. They will be boosted, however, by last weekend’s good performance in their 0-0 draw with champions Juventus at the Stadio Giuseppe Meazza. Despite a good defensive record so far this season with only six goals conceded, Roberto Mancini’s have found goalscoring a problem with only eight goals to date, with summer signing Stevan Jovetic top scorer on three goals.
Last season’s game in Sicily ended 1-1 with Franco Vazquez giving the home side the lead early on only for Mateo Kovacic to equalize just before half-time for the Nerazzurri. The return game in Milan in February saw the Biscione run out easy 3-0 victors thanks to two Mauro Icardi strikes and a first half Fredy Guarin goal.
Since the 2004/2005 season the teams have met 20 times in Serie A with the Milanese giants winning half of those fixtures with seven draws and just three wins for the Sicilians. All three of the Rosanero wins have come at the Stadio Barbera with a 1-0 victory in April 2013 being their last.
Giuseppe Iachini’s side are still without long-term absentees, defender Michel Morganella and midfielder Francesco Bolzoni, while forward Uros Durdevic is not expected back until mid-January after suffering an ankle injury at the start of the season.
Roberto Mancini is expected to keep faith with the side that drew with Juventus last weekend with big summer signing Geoffrey Kondogbia again left on the bench.
Form Guide: Palermo (D-L-L-L-L-W) Inter (W-W-W-L-D-D)
Expected Staring XIs
Palermo: Sorrentino; Vitiello, G. Gonzalez, El Kaoutari; Rispoli, Maresca, Rigoni, Hiljemark, Lazaar; Vazquez, Gilardino.
Inter: Handanovic; Santon, Miranda, Murillo, Juan Jesus; Melo, Medel, Brozovic; Perisic, Jovetic, Icardi.
Infographic from www.sporticos.com
