Internazionale vs Lecce: Serie A Match Preview & Prediction

Internazionale are set to host newly-promoted Lecce in their first Serie A fixture of the 2019-20 season.

Internazionale finished fourth in the 2018-19 Serie A with 20 wins, nine draws and nine losses. Lecce, meanwhile, finished second in the 2018-19 Serie B winning 19, drawing nine and losing eight. 

The Nerazzurri have won 14 of their last 15 meetings with Lecce. The Milan club has dominated by scoring 43 goals and conceding just six with nine clean sheets to their name. Internazionale have also scored a goal in 15 of their last 20 home Serie A games.

Lecce will be eager to replicate their form from the 2018-19 Serie B where they won almost 58% of their total matches. In the last ten matches (all competitions), the Salentini won nine of those and lost one which came against Padova. The visitors, however, have never won a Serie A opener in their last 15 attempts (D6, L9).

Inter Milan Injury News

Diego Godin will be out with a thigh injury for this game. Valentino Lazzaro is also doubtful due to a similar issue.

Lecce Injury News

Riccardo Fiamozzi (back) and Biagio Meccariello (knee) will not play this match with their respective injuries. Simone Lo Faso too is doubtful for this match.

Probable Playing XIs

Inter Milan [3-5-2]

Lecce [4-3-1-2]

Players to Watch

Mauro Icardi

Icardi has an excellent home record. In 109 Serie A home appearances Icardi has scored 72 goals with 21 of those coming first and 19 at the last. The Argentine has not made an appearance in Serie A against Lecce but he can score at any given point.

Lautaro Martinez

The Argentinian forward played 27 games last season but he managed to find back of the net on just six occasions with two assists to his name. In home games, Martinez scored three goals in 14 appearances. A point to note is that five of the six Serie A matches that Martinez scored in last season ended in victories for the Nerazzurri.

Romelu Lukaku

Romelu Lukaku didn't have a great season with Manchester United in 2018-19. He scored just 12 goals in his 32 appearances for his former club. That being said, the Belgian looks to be an important part of  Antonio Conte's new look Internazionale and the game against Lecce will be the genesis of his career in Italy.

Gianluca Lapadula

Lecce managed to acquire Lapadula on loan from Genoa where he managed to play just eight games and score once. The striker had almost 2.3 shots per game which makes him a strong contender to trouble Samir Handanovic's goal.

Home vs Away Stats

Here's the look how the team performs at home and away from home.

Inter Milan is playing at their home. Here are their last five home match performance in all competitions.

Last five Lecce's away match performance in all competitions.

Prediction

Internazionale haven't lost a match at home in their last five game. (W2, D3). Lecce are unlikely to cause a dent and it should be a routine victory for Antonio Conte's men.

Predicted score: Inter Milan 2 – 0 Lecce