Cremonese vs Inter Milan

Serie A basement boys Cremonese welcome perennial top-four tenants Inter Milan to the Stadio Giovanni Zini for a high-stakes top-flight contest.

New Cremonese manager Davide Ballardini launched his career at Cremonese with a stunning Coppa Italia success against runaway Serie A leaders Napoli but could only manage a 1-1 draw at Bologna on his top-flight touchline debut last time out. As the only Serie A side yet to win a league match in 2022/23 (D8, L11), ‘La Cremo’ could be more than happy to be languishing ‘only’ nine points adrift of safety. With the odds firmly stacked against Cremonese here, the hosts need nothing short of a miracle to avoid becoming the first Serie A side since Ancona in 2003/04 to fail to win any of their first 20 matches in a campaign. That’s unlikely to happen, considering they’ve managed just one triumph against Inter Milan in 17 competitive H2Hs (D3, L12).

On the other hand, ten-man Inter Milan collapsed to an underwhelming 1-0 home defeat to mid-table Empoli last time out, only days after dispatching AC Milan 3-0 in the Supercoppa Italiana showpiece. With table-topping Napoli already 13 points off, ‘I Nerazzurri’ are no longer viable title candidates. But with fifth-placed Roma level on points, Simone Inzaghi’s side must defend their top-four hopes first. Inter’s growing defensive woes have seen them concede at least once on their last 13 Serie A travels, their worst run without an away clean sheet in the top flight since 1988. Scoring an opener would be helpful, therefore. Luckily for the visitors, they’ve netted a league-high 13 goals within the opening 30 minutes of play in Serie A this term.