Inter Milan vs Palermo

Inter Milan face-off against Palermo at home looking to put the frustration of the Champions League behind them. The league leaders were officially eliminated from said tournament at the hands of Liverpool this past week, while Palermo are coming off of a bad lost at home.

The neroazzurri are currently in first place of the Serie A with 64 points on the year. This is good enough for a 6 point edge on 2^nd place Roma. In their last league match Inter Milan were able to hold serve at home with a 2-0 win at the Stadio Giuseppe Meazza. Going into that contest Inter were on a 3 match winless run which had seen them draw 2 matches while picking up their first loss of the season. Now with the UEFA Champions League out of the way, Inter Milan can concentrate on the Serie A from this point on. On the injury front this week Inter will be without Dacourt, Samuel, Cordoba, Cesar and Maxwell. Julio Cruz will be available off of the bench, while Ibrahimovic will start upfront with Crespo.

Palermo were held to a frustrating 1-1 draw at home by Udinese in week 27. The point leaves Palermo in 8^th place of the league table with 36 points. They are 3 points back of 7^th place Sampdoria and 1 point ahead of 9^th place Genoa. With the draw Palermo are now unbeaten over their last 3 matches, and they have posted 2 wins, 2 draws and 1 loss over their last 5. This week Francesco Guidolin’s boys are in pretty good health with only Capuano out injured. Miccoli is able to start in attack and this will slide Uruguayan Edison Cavani over to the bench. Palermo will go with their usual 3-5-2.

It will be interesting to see how Inter Milan fare following the disappointment in Europe. Mancini received a lot of criticism for some of his comments after the match and now the club will take to the pitch or the first time. This could be an ideal setting for Palermo to pull off an upset or even hold out for a point, but not likely. Look for Inter to respond with an emphatic win.

Prediction: Inter Milan (2-0)