Inter Milan vs Lazio

Inter Milan came extremely close to a victory that would have been their most impressive of the season Round 11 when they played to a 1-1 draw away to Juventus. A goal 13 minutes from time did them in and keeps their lead over 2^nd place Fiorentina at 2 points. The result just reaffirms that it will be very difficult for Inter to run away with the Serie A title as they did in 2006-2007. Still, the fact remains that they are tops in the league at this moment and will now host the struggling Lazio at the Giuseppe Meazza at San Siro.

As with any club that has enjoyed so much success over the past few years, the biggest scandals that seem to revolve around the club pertain to squad selection. Brazilian striker Adriano has now been left off the list of players called up for this match by manager Roberto Mancini and it the 4^th straight week he will not even dress. As Adriano has no injury concerns it appears he simply fell in the managers dog house. His absence and the injury to Hernan Crespo means that Mancini will go with his regular striker combo of Ibrahimovic and Julio Cruz which is not too shabby indeed.

Lazio are currently in free fall mode. Just when it looked as though their season had hit a low point following the humiliating slaughter at home at the hands of AC Milan by a score of 1-5, they have proceeded to lose their next two matches at home as well to Udinese and Fiorentina. They have now fallen to 15^th place in the Serie A table with just 10 points from 11 matches. As if things weren’t bad enough for Delio Rossi’s side the injury list continues to get longer. In addition to the absences of Mutarelli, Diakite, Mauri and Siviglia, Lazio will also be without Serbian wide man Kolarov. Lazio, like many other clubs, appear to be making the UEFA Champions League their only priority this year. The midweek victory over German side Werder Bremen by a score of 2-1 has Lazio in first place of their group through 4 matches.

The way Inter have performed at home this season, winning 13 out of a possible 15 points makes them overwhelming favorites in this match. This is especially true given the number of absences that Lazio will carry into this match. The 3 straight losses at home have not helped improve their confidence level in the least bit and with the next round of the UEFA Champions League within reach it’s doubtful they will be as focused for this match as they are on those European nights.

Prediction: Home win (2-0)