Inter Milan v Palermo
Football : Italy : Seria A
Venue: Stadio San Siro, Milano
Wednesday 1st February – Kickoff time: 20:45 GMT+1

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Inter (5th W-11 D-2 L-7)

After registering a 7 match winning streak with victories against Lazio, Milan or Fiorentina, Ranieri’s man were reminded how the defeat tastes like by minnows Lecce.

Inter blew the opportunity to move up to third place in Seria A, despite dominating the entire second half and even scoring two goals which were disallowed for offside.

Wesley Snejder returned to the starting 11 after missing out due to a muscular problem, but he failed to impress and was replaced by Ricardo Avarez during the interval. Ranieri insisted it was a tactical change, but we might not see the Dutchman in the starting formation against Palermo.

Inter has a good record at the San Siro against Palermo, not losing on the 24 occasions that they have hosted Palermo in Seria A (17 wins), scoring two or more goals in each of the last six encounters.


Probable Inter line-up :

Julio Cesar
Maicon, Lucio, Samuel, Nagatomo
Zanetti, Cambiasso, Motta, Alvarez
Pazzini, Milito

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Palermo (9th W-8 D-3 L-9)

Last Sunday Palermo managed to win back-to-back games for the first time in this campaign, however, both games were played at Stadio Renzo Barbera.

Palermo is yet to win an away game this season, only two other teams are in the same situation (Novara and Siena). Palermo’s last away win in Seria A was back in April and what is worse is that since then they’ve only managed to score against Novara.

Both Miccoli and Budan are in excellent form, Miccoli leading the assists charts this season with 8, while Budan scored both goals in their previous victory against Novara. The only unavailable player for the trip to Milan is Abel Hernandez.


Probable Palermo line-up :

Viviano
Pisano, Silvestre, Mantovani, Balzaretti
Migliaccio, Donati, Barreto
Illicic
Miccoli, Budan

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The Betting Verdict

Inter will be probably getting back to the 4-4-2 formation because according to Ranieri they “are still not developing well with 4-3-1-2 and we can express ourselves better with 4-4-2”, meaning that Snejder could drop to the bench.

It’s hard to ignore Palermo’s awful away record and I find it hard to believe that they will improve against Inter Milan, a team that recorded four consecutive wins at San Siro.

There’s been plenty of goals whenever these two met, so at start I was inclined on taking over 2.5 goals to be scored, but Palermo only scored against Novara this season, so I prefer taking Inter on handicap here.

The Statistics :

The Pick :

Inter Milan 2-0 Palermo

HANDICAP BETTING :

Take Inter -1.5 AH at 2.47 at Pinnacle
Confidence: 6/10