Inter beat Chievo 1-0 in Wednesday evening’s Serie A fixture at the Stadio Giuseppe Meazza, earning their first victory in five league games.
Despite amassing a total of 24 shots in 90 minutes of play, it was a sole 48th minute Mauro Icardi goal which would make the difference in a game dominated by the home team.
The hosts were able to dictate the early run of play and created their first chance for new winter signing, Eder, who latched onto a promising ball into the centre, forcing a save from Andrea Seculin in goal.
Five minutes later, it was Icardi who met another ball in from the right and fired his shot into the top-left corner, requiring a strong reflex save from the Chievo keeper.
The Nerazzurri refused to relent with some great build-up play leading to an opportunity for Geoffrey Kondogbia in the box, however was unable to take full advantage, producing a low shot at the keeper.
Chievo were unable to play the ball away from their own half as Inter piled on the opportunities with a Marcelo Brozovic shot parried almost directly into Kondogbia’s path, before an Icardi header sailed agonisingly wide of the post from the resulting corner.
An Eder half-volley and Brozovic long-range shot saw out the half, with the Nerazzurri amassing 72 per cent of possession, a total of 16 shots and 7 corners, however they failed to make it count on the scoreboard.
As the second half got started, Inter saw an instant change of fortunes, taking just three minutes to finally find the back of the net thanks to captain Icardi.
Having earned their eighth corner of the game, the delivery saw a scramble for the ball with Miranda eventually able to thread the ball through to the striker to finish from just a couple feet from goal.
Within 10 minutes, the Argentinian was millimetres from notching his second for the night, heading the ball onto the cross-bar off a pin-point Yuto Nagatomo cross into the box.
Behind on the scoreboard, the Gialloblu pushed forward, attempting to pressure the Nerazzurri in their own half.
It soon caused a mistake with a misplace Brozovic pass gifting the ball to Roberto Inglese, forcing Miranda to bring him down outside the box. However the resulting free kick from Valter Birsa was blocked effectively by the wall.
As Chievo again looked to press, Yuto Nagatomo found space on the counter with a great ball playing Icardi in on goal who forced another strong save by the 25-year-old ‘keeper.
Eder soon found space of his own, with a strong run towards the box, forcing a foul from Nicolas Spolli who was awarded a yellow card.
Brozovic’s resulting free kick dipped late to sail just over the corner of the crossbar.
While Samir Handanovic was not yet required to make a save, Seculin was consistently among the action, with consecutive corners requiring diving saves from bother Inter’s centre-backs.
As the full-time whistle drew close, Chievo pushed for an unlikely equaliser, forcing the home fans to nervously see out the final minutes.
However the Nerazzurri held on earn a narrow 1-0 victory, moving up to 44 points while Chievo remain on 27 points in 12th position.
