High-flying Inter to face in-form AC Milan in tough to call San Siro derby

The first Milan derby of the season sees an in-form Inter host Gennaro Gattuso’s AC, who are unbeaten in eight matches.

Sunday evening in San Siro sees two of Italy’s most famous teams face off in the Milan derby.

Inter Milan go into the game in third place, with AC Milan 10th but with a game in hand which would take them just one point behind their rivals should they pick up the three points in that one.

AC Milan have won their last three games and are unbeaten in eight in all competitions. Inter, meanwhile, are in the midst of a huge run of games.

After this comes Barcelona at the Camp Nou and then Lazio away in Serie A; they have, though, won each of their last six matches, including one against Tottenham, and are in good form.

Inter are perhaps slight favorites for the derby, but the result is incredibly tough to predict.

Key battles

Ivan Strinic, Mattia Caldara and Patrick Cutrone are all expected to be out for Milan with various issues.

Inter’s talisman, Argentinean Mauro Icardi, with line up against his fellow countryman, center-back Mateo Mussachio, who will be joined by Christian Zapata in the AC Milan defense.

At the other end, Miranda against Gonzalo Higuain is the equivalent clash. Whichever striker can be more clinical when the chances arrive will go a long way to determining the result of the game.

Higuain has four goals in five Serie A games so far, while Icardi has three in six.

Arguably the most intriguing battles will take place in wide areas, with the experienced Ivan Perisic and exciting, pacy Keita Balde coming up against Ignazio Abate and Ricardo Rodriguez.

Keeping the ball away from Perisic, in particular, will be crucial for AC Milan; the Croatian wide-man has a habit of scoring important goals in big games. He’s been known to net in derbies before, and scored for Croatia against England in their semifinal at the World Cup.

In the center of the midfield, Radja Nainggolan, signed from Roma in the summer, has made an excellent start for Inter. Franck Kessie and Lucas Biglia will need to match him and stop him dictating the play.

Previous meetings

Last season’s clashes were a mixed bag, with a goalless draw and a 3-2 Inter victory in Serie A, and another goalless draw in the Coppa Italia, decided in stoppage time by a single goal from AC Milan’s Patrick Cutrone.

The season before that saw more goals, with both games in the league ending 2-2, including a goal in each match for Antonio Candreva.

AC Milan’s last league win in the derby came in January 2016 when they won 3-0. Over the last 22 meetings in all competitions, though, they have the edge, winning nine times to Inter’s seven, with six draws.