Serie A: Third Time’s the Charm for Mourinho Against Inter?

Inter Milan vs AS Roma

Roma manager Jose Mourinho has not found much success against former club Inter Milan in his first season back in Serie A. The Special One has lost the first two meetings against the Nerazzurri, once in the league and another in the cup.

Mourinho will be hoping the third time’s the charm when his Roma side visits the San Siro for a crucial clash with massive title implications.

The Nerazzurri have regained the momentum in the race for the Scudetto in recent weeks and can climb back to the top of the table with a win against Roma.

The Serie A 2022 betting odds have them favoured to do just that, but Mourinho would love nothing more than to make his mark in the title race, even at the expense of his old club.

Talking Points

Inter back to their best

After a rough two-month spell, Inter are now back in championship-calibre form. They are unbeaten in their last 10 games in all competitions, winning six. Two of those wins were big 1-0 away victories against Liverpool and Juventus in the Derby d’Italia.

And they also smashed city rivals AC Milan 3-0 in midweek to move on to the final of the Coppa Italia, where they will once again face Juve. Lautaro Martinez bagged a first-half brace against Milan to send Nerazzurri on their way.

After a lengthy goal drought to start 2022, Lautaro is getting back to making Serie A 2022 highlights on a consistent basis, scoring seven goals in his last seven appearances.

Inter coach Simone Inzaghi has picked Joaquin Correa over Edin Dzeko as Lautaro’s strike partner in the last few games, and it remains to be seen whether he will stick with that partnership. Although, Dzeko will obviously be hoping to get the start against his old team, whom he has scored against in each of their first two meetings this season.

If Dzeko does remain on the bench, he will be part of a deep and dangerous group of Inter reserves that also includes Alexis Sanchez, who has scored two goals in his last four appearances, and winter signing Robin Gosens, who got his first goal for Inter in the win against Milan.

Mourinho has Roma rolling

Roma are on quite a roll in Serie A. They are currently fifth in the table and are now unbeaten in 12 league games after holding title hopefuls Napoli to a 1-1 draw in Naples.

Despite going down to 10 men, the Giallorossi were still able to salvage a draw thanks to a stoppage-time goal by substitute Stephan El Shaarawy.

It was an impressive showing of resilience by Mourinho’s men, who were only days removed from making the UEFA Conference League semi-finals as they thrashed Bodo/Glimt 4-0 at the Stadio Olimpico.

Nicolo Zaniolo scored a spectacular hat-trick against Bodo/Glimt and also started against Napoli. But Henrikh Mkhitaryan could make his way back to the starting XI against Inter to provide more defensive cover.

Tammy Abraham is assured his starting spot up front, though. The English centre-forward is having a fantastic first season in Serie A with 15 goals and 4 assists. He scored his 24^th goal of the season against Bodo/Glimt – tying the club record for most goals in a debut season – and also set up El Shaarawy’s equalising goal against Napoli.

And at the other end of the pitch, Mourinho is likely to stick with the settled back three of Chris Smalling, Gianluca Mancini, and Roger Ibanez that is looking much more solid of late. The Giallorossi have conceded just three goals over their last seven games.

 

History

Inter have had the better of Roma in Mourinho’s first season back in Italy. They delivered a dominant first-half performance en route to a 3-0 win in their first league meeting at the Stadio Olimpico. And they followed that up with a comfortable 2-0 win in the Coppa Italia in February. Edin Dzeko scored in both matches against his old team.

But despite Inter’s recent dominance – they have now won three in a row against Roma – this matchup has been quite competitive in recent years.

Over their last 28 Serie A meetings, Roma hold a very slight 8-7 edge in terms of wins, with 13 draws. They have also met eight times in the Coppa Italia, with Inter winning four to Roma’s three.

Betting Tip

SBOTOP odds have Inter Milan installed as big 1.68 favourites to beat Roma, who are priced at 4.70 to win at San Siro. A draw is 3.80.

While Inter are in excellent form at the moment and will have home advantage, Roma will be a tough opponent for sure. Mourinho finally seems to be getting the best out of the Giallorossi at this stage of the season and will be desperate to avoid another defeat to his old side.

I expect Mou and Roma to learn from their first two setbacks against Inter and pick up a positive result at the San Siro.

 

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