Serie A: Inter Have a Monday Date in Cagliari

Cagliari vs Inter Milan

Simone Inzaghi’s Inter Milan head to the beautiful island of Sardinia on Monday. Are they going for a holiday? No, because the title chasers are there to take on Claudio Ranieri’s newly promoted Cagliari.

The Mediterranean Sea will be glistening in the evening sunshine, and the atmosphere at the Sardegna Arena will be bristling, so it’s a date not to miss.

Inter’s campaign has started smoothly with a 2-0 victory over Monza, while Cagliari picked up an impressive 0-0 draw away to Torino on their return to the top-flight.

And there is a huge contrast between these two clubs.

Inter are one of five of Serie A’s big guns to start with a win, and they sit alongside Juventus, Atalanta, Napoli, and AC Milan on three points. The Scudetto race is wide open, and I Nerazzurri are the early favourites at SBOTOP odds of 3.00.

Meanwhile, Cagliari’s aim is to avoid a swift return to Serie B and, when they took to the field against Torino, five members of its starting 11 had never started a Serie A match, while only three had played more than 10 top-flight games.

It’s not exactly David versus Goliath, but the Milan giants will expect to plunder Sardinia on Monday, and I think they will.

Talking Points

Martinez on fire already

I Nerazzurri’s Argentine striker Lautaro Martinez scored twice in the 2-0 win over Monza and once again, he’ll be in the leading pack in the chase for the Capocannoniere.

Inzaghi is under pressure to improve on last season’s third place finish, though he won plenty of kudos when his team pushed Manchester City all the way in the 2023 Champions League final.

They earned a fifth successive opening day win last week, and I Nerazzurri fans watched Martinez at his clinical best, scoring one early goal, getting on the end of a Denzil Dumfries cross, and a late second as Inter strolled to victory.

The World Cup winner is in the prime of his career, and he will be one of the stars to watch in the title race.

Inzaghi gave debuts to his new boys, keeper Yann Sommer and striker Marcus Thuram. Both settled in quickly, but the head coach still has work to do in the transfer window.

In his search for a replacement for defencive rock Milan Skriniar, he is hoping to bring in 27-year-old Frenchman Benjamin Pavard.

On the other hand, former Bayern star Sommer already looks like a sound replacement for the departed Andre Onana after he went to Manchester United.

But Inzaghi wants to bring Pavard in quickly and, with the campaign underway and the Milan Derby less than a month away, Inter will push hard for an early winning run to keep their rivals at bay.

Can Ranieri’s tinkering keep Cagliari safe?

His most memorable achievement was leading relegation favourites Leicester City to the 2016 Premier League title, at starting odds of 5001.00. Well, the Serie A 2023 betting odds price Cagliari at 1001.00 to win the title in Italy, so read into that what you want.

I’m not saying the Tinkerman can lead Cagliari to the Scudetto, but I do think he can pick up enough good Serie A 2023 resultsto keep them safe. The Rossoblu are back in the top-flight after a one-year absence, though it didn’t go terribly smoothly.

And when Fabio Liverani was sacked with the team drifting into mid-table, Ranieri flew in and led them to fifth place and a play-off victory, as Leonardo Pavoletti’s dramatic 94^th minute winner saw off Bari.

Cagliari’s biggest outlay over the summer went on two young defencive midfielders with just short of €10 million spent on Matteo Prati from SPAL and Ibrahim Sulemana from Hellas Verona, which means the majority of the squad which won promotion to Serie A will be trusted to thrive and survive against better opposition.

One thing we do know is that Ranieri will set his team up to be well-organised and hard to beat, which Torino have already discovered. .

History

With 28 wins from their last 50 encounters against Cagliari, Inter Milan have had plenty of success in this fixture, while I Rossoblu have won seven and there have been 15 draws.

Inter have won the last four meetings, doing an impressive double in the 2021/22 campaign, winning 4-0 in Milan and 3-1 on Sardinia.

Both teams are in good shape after a bright pre-season. Inter are unbeaten in five, while their hosts are unbeaten in six.

Betting Tip

Inter Milan are hot favourites to win this match at odds of 1.40, while Cagliari are priced at 5.99, and the draw is 4.07.

The Double Chance Cagliari of Draw is at 2.57, and the most likely scoreline is a 2-0 Inter win at 5.99, and I reckon Martinez will be on target again.

 

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