The Serie A returns this weekend with Coppa Italia champions Inter Milan facing Monza on Saturday. The Nerrazurri often do their best work at the San Siro and look set to make light work of the visitors.
It was a mixed campaign for Inter Milan last season as they finished third in Serie A after struggling to find some consistency. However, they excelled in the cup competitions, retaining the Coppa Italia title and reaching the UEFA Champions League final.
The likes of Marcelo Brozovic, Edin Dzeko, Romelu Lukaku and Andre Onana have all departed with Marcus Thuram and Marko Arnautovic among the new arrivals. The summer of changes does not appear to have affected Inter Milan much as they had an unbeaten preseason, claiming four wins and a draw from five warm-up matches.
In the midst of their inconsistency last season, Chelsea managed to maintain their rhythm at the San Siro. Simone Inzaghi’s men ended the campaign with three straight home victories, although they failed to keep a clean sheet in any of those wins.
Monza had an impressive debut campaign last season as they finished 11th on the standings. They claimed a number of big scalps along the way and ended above the likes of Udinese, Sassuolo and relegated Sampdoria.
While the main objective remains staying in the topflight, Monza will have ambitions of a topflight finish. Preseason was not the best for Raffaele Palladino’s men and they have already lost this season, suffering a 2-1 defeat to Serie B side Reggiana in the Coppa Italia.
One of the impressive things about Monza’s debut campaign was their fine showings on their travels. Among their results in the final weeks of the season was a 1-0 win at Inter Milan, although they did end their campaign with a 5-2 defeat at Atalanta.
How the bookies view it?
Inter Milan are considered overwhelming favourites among the bookies with a home win priced at 3/10 by BetVictor. An unlikely victory for Monza is valued at 15/2 by bet365 while a draw is set at odds of 4/1 by Unibet.
Head to head
Monza were surprisingly unbeaten against Inter Milan last season, claiming a win and a draw from two meetings. They played out a 2-2 draw in the first meeting before picking up a 1-0 win at the San Siro in April.
Players to watch
Lautaro Martinez finished as the second top scorer in Serie A last season with 21 goals and will be targeting the main prize this term. The Argentine striker looked sharp in preseason and could be backed to hit the ground running at 11/10 with William Hill.
Andrea Petagna caught the eye for Monza last season with goals in big games having found the net against Napoli and Atalanta in the final weeks of the season. The forward could be worth keeping an eye on at 11/2 with Unibet.
Anything else catch the eye?
Inter Milan’s defensive problems do not appear to have been fixed in preseason and they are likely to concede on Sunday. Both teams could be backed to score at 19/20 with bet365, over 2.5 goals is priced at 8/13 with BetVictor, who is also offering 17/10 on over 3.5 goals.
Given the minimal odds for a straight Inter Milan victory, a win and both teams to score could be considered at 21/10 with bet365.
This Serie A match between Inter Milan and Monza will be played on Aug 19, 2023 and kick off at 19:45. Check below for our tipsters best Inter Milan vs Monza prediction. You may also visit our dedicated betting previews section for the most up to date previews.
