Inter Milan’s 2020/21 Serie A title was a long time in the making, the first since 2010 after which Juventus began its nine year dominance of the Scudetto.
Triumphant boss Antonio Conte made a dramatic exit of the club but incoming boss Simone Inzaghi has made a good start with I Nerazzurri who are carrying on where they left off last term, and are in hot pursuit of early league leaders Napoli. The Serie A 2021 betting odds make this a wide open title race and Inter have as good a chance as any, though there will be challenges from Napoli, AC Milan, Atalanta, possibly Roma and a re-awakening Old Lady, who’s Serie A 2021 results have taken a recent turn for the better.
Wins for both Inter and Juventus made it a happy Saturday for the big two, while Lazio suffered a nasty hangover on Sunday.
Deadly duo can bolster Inter’s title defence
2021 Scudetto winners Inter have made a strong start to their campaign and are settled in the leading pack after coming back from a half time deficit to beat Sassuolo. Euro 2020 star Domenico Berardi gave the hosts a lead from the penalty spot after Milan Skriniar fouled Jeremie Boga but Inter roared back with second half goals from Edin Dzeko and Lautaro Martinez, who are at the front of the race for the Capocannoniere with six goals and five respectively. Last season Martinez linked up with Romelu Lukaku to great effect and his partnership with former Roma star Dzeko looks like it may be just as fruitful.
Dzeko levelled with a trademark header from an Ivan Perisic cross just before the hour mark and when Andrea Consigli fouled the Bosnian striker, with a quarter of an hour remaining, Martinez made no mistake from the penalty spot, planting his kick in the bottom right corner.
Sassuolo can feel a little unlucky having dominated possession and having eight shots on target to Inter’s three, and Inter keeper Samir Handanovic can take a lot of credit for the visitors’ success. Getting it right at both ends of the pitch are essential for any potential league winners and Inter are getting it right at the moment.
Bianconeri back on track
Since the Old Lady’s 2-1 defeat to Napoli on 11th September, she has won five and drawn one of the following six games in all competitions. The stalemate came against title rivals AC Milan, while I Bianconeri is now on a four match winning streak, including an impressive Champions League victory over European champions Chelsea.
Here at SBOTOP we tipped a Juventus win but they left it late in the Turin derby as it took until the 86th minute to breach the Torino defence. Manuel Locatelli took a pass from Federico Chiesa outside the penalty area and fired a low shot into the corner of the net to send the Juve fans into ecstasy. There was more action to come in injury time as Dejan Kulusevski almost doubled the lead, hitting the post after a fast break, and then Torino were inches away from an equaliser when David Zima met a cross from Tomas Rincon but his header drifted agonisingly wide.
Sunday shocker for Sarri
On Maurizio Sarri’s return to Serie A he made a fast start as Lazio manager, winning his first two league games in spectacular style, as his side scored nine goals to brush Empoli ad Spezia aside. The results began to tail off after a defeat to AC Milan but Lazio’s last two outings had yielded two more wins, over Roma in the Serie A derby and then over Locomotiv Moscow in the Europa League. A trip to mid table Bologna presented a decent chance to make it three wins on the bounce but I Biancoceleste blew it spectacularly.
There was little the Lazio defence could do when Musa Barrow hit a screamer into the top right corner to give the hosts a 14th minute lead, but they switched off three minutes later when Barrow swung in a corner and Arthur Theate had a free header, which he planted low into the corner. Mid way through second half Bologna secured the points as man-of-the-match Barrow made another assist to tee up Aaron Hickey for the third. And things went from bad to worse for Sarri and his team when Francesco Acerbi was booked for a foul, argued about it and copped a red card. He’ll be suspended after the international break and that’s the last thing the boss needs after playing this game without injured top scorer Ciro Immobile.
Before the game Acerbi said he expected Bologna to be physical…he may be regretting those words now!
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