Overview
After losing the Scudetto to Napoli last season, Inter is facing a great opportunity to regain the Serie A throne. The 6-2 destruction of Pisa last weekend helped them continue to accelerate, thereby creating a 5-point gap with their city rival Milan and leaving Napoli 9 points behind.
Undefeated in 10 matches in Serie A in the context of opponents constantly stumping, Cristian Chivu's army is accelerating strongly, firmly consolidating the number one position in the rankings. Inter's superiority is also reflected in the numbers.
They are the team that has won the most matches in the top 5 European national championships this season and possess the third strongest attack with 50 goals to date.
However, Inter's European ambition is not smooth. If they want to participate in the Champions League final for the third time in 4 years, they will have to go through a more difficult path, after missing a ticket straight to the round of 16.
Inter once won all 4 opening matches of the group stage, but the long slide with three consecutive defeats put them in a position to play in the play-offs. The 2-0 victory right at Borussia Dortmund's stadium was only enough to help Inter have a more favorable position in the play-offs.
In that match, Federico Dimarco continued his high form with a super free kick, before Andy Diouf doubled the gap a few minutes later. However, Inter still had to overcome Bodo/Glimt if they wanted to get a ticket to the round of 16.
Before going to Norway, Inter still has four domestic tests. Including the away match against Cremonese, the Coppa Italia quarter-final against Torino, the difficult match to Sassuolo and then the Derby d'Italia match.
With Italy's best away record - 8 wins and only 9 goals conceded - Inter is on a 6-match winning streak away from home in domestic competitions since losing to Napoli in October.
Many factors also support them in their trip to the Zini stadium. Inter has a perfect record against teams in the lower half of the Serie A table this season, scoring 31 goals and conceding only 6 times, and winning 7/8 of their most recent away matches against Cremonese in the league.
In the opposite direction, Cremonese is falling into crisis. Not only experiencing a series of 7 consecutive home defeats, they were also crushed 4-1 by Inter at San Siro at the beginning of the season - a match where Dimarco also scored.
Cremonese's promising start to the Serie A comeback season has now stalled and turned into a relegation battle. In the last 8 rounds, Grigiorossi is the team that earned the fewest points (3), scored the fewest goals (2) and was goalless for 7 matches.
Although still temporarily standing above the relegation group in the group of teams with the same 23 points, coach Davide Nicola - who is famous for his good hand in relegation races - is under pressure to reverse the situation.
After a 0-0 draw with Hellas Verona, Cremonese lost to Sassuolo 0-1 last weekend. The striker duo Federico Bonazzoli and Jamie Vardy continued to be silent, making the home team's attack even more deadlocked.
In the context of only 2 home wins since the beginning of the season and needing a boost to escape danger, having to welcome Inter - an opponent who is in form and possesses the top away style of Serie A - is no different from a too difficult problem for Cremonese at this time.
Expected lineup:
Audero, Terracciano, Baschirotto, Bianchetti, Zerbin, Maleh, Grassi, Vandeputte, Pezzella, Bonazzoli, Vardy.
Inter Milan: Sommer, Bisseck, Akanji, Bastoni, Henrique, Frattesi, Zielinski, Sucic, Dimarco, Martinez, Esposito.
The match between Cremonese and Inter Milan takes place at 0:00 AM on February 2nd (Vietnam time).
