Cagliari vs Inter Milan

New-look Inter Milan head to Unipol Domous to meet newly-promoted Cagliari in an exciting Serie A match-up.

After helping Cagliari navigate nail-biting promotion playoffs last season, Claudio Ranieri intends to keep the ‘Sardinians’ in the top flight. Despite failing to produce much in the front third, Cagliari held a more heavily fancied Torino to a scoreless away draw on the opening weekend, maintaining their poor record of failing to win a curtain-raising Serie A fixture for an eighth year on the trot. You’d need to go back to 2011/12 for the last time the Sardinian outfit went unbeaten in their opening two top-flight matches. But after a goalless day-one draw, they thumped Roma 5-1 that year, a scenario they’re unlikely to repeat this time. Indeed, barring a come-from-behind 2-1 win in 2019, they have lost six of their last seven home league matches against Inter.

That defeat remains Inter Milan’s only loss across their last 11 Serie A encounters against Cagliari (W9, D1), suggesting a piece of history could be up for grabs this week. Following a comfortable 2-0 home triumph over Monza last weekend, ‘I Nerazzurri’ could start a new league season with back-to-back wins for the fifth year running. Despite their long top-flight history, they’ve never achieved that feat, which should be a perfect motive for Simone Inzaghi’s side on this travel. Inter closed last season on a high, racking up four wins in their final five away league matches without conceding, with a 3-1 loss to Napoli the only exception. However, another clean sheet is anything but a foregone conclusion, with Inter failing to keep a clean sheet on their last ten Serie A visits to Unipol Domus.