Serie A:  Internazionale Start Their Year as Cordial Hosts to Verona

Inter Milan vs Hellas Verona

There’s a popular saying: “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.” But as every football fan knows, the sport is a cutthroat, dog-eat-dog arms race for roster depth, given that stacked slates have plagued outfits for the past few years.

Outfits that suffer the most are the top teams in the top flights, and Serie A is no exception.

League-leading Inter Milan are poised to bolster their already stacked midfield with an aggressive approach to getting a signature from a key player from a rival team.

Meanwhile, Verona are on thin ice after failing to put up points on the table against Salernitana for their last match of the 2023 calendar.

The lowly club will visit San Siro in hopes of starting their new year in the right direction. The toughest task to start the new year may be a good thing for Verona, as this bout with Inter Milan could spark a fire in them and help them find the extra gear to propel them up the league standings.

Talking Points

Inter’s attempt to bolster their midfield

Nerazzurri are one of the first clubs to be featured in the Serie A 2024 news, as they put themselves in the fray, trying to acquire Napoli’s talented midfielder, Piotr Zielinski. The 29-year-old’s contract with Napoli expires by the end of June, and it seems like there are no agreements or even talks on an extension.

Pursuing Zielinski is shaping up to be an insurance policy for Simone Inzaghi, given that they already have a stacked midfield. But playing in a top flight as competitive as Serie A, roster depth can sometimes be the deciding factor between a championship and a collapse.

Inter have offered a three-year deal for the Polish midfielder and his representatives to ponder. And with Napoli’s hopes of keeping the 29-year-old at Diego Armando Maradona getting dimmer and dimmer, Inter Milan are looking like a strong candidate to land Zielinski.

Inter are currently the top dogs in Serie A, garnering 45 points after 18 games while boasting the best offence and defence in the whole league. Already with a stacked roster, Nerazzurri are basically flexing on their Italian adversaries at this point.

Verona in troubled waters

Gialloblu’s recent top-flight loss to the dead-last Salernitana really hurt their collective goal to steer away from relegation before the new year comes. After their 0-1 defeat at home against Granata, their placement in the league table remained stagnant with 14 points, tied with relegation-nominees Caliari.

Marco Baroni and his boys enter the new year in the same position where they ended last season’s campaign, treading just enough to avoid relegation. But luckily for Baroni, there’s still plenty of football and an abundant amount of chances to turn their season around, or at least to a respectable state.

Even though Gialloblu failed to end their 2023 campaign on a high note, they can definitely have a promising start to 2024. Easier said than done, though, as they take on the best outfit in the entire country of Italy to start their hopeful second half of the season.

Albeit the tallest task to jumpstart their journey to redemption, all hope is not lost against Nerazzurri, and it’s all due to Verona’s proper defense. Baroni’s defenders have been their saving grace in the season thus far.

Gialloblu have only conceded 24 goals in 18 matches. No, it’s not the crème of the crop, but maintaining a decent enough defence will certainly, sooner or later, get them a few spots up the standings of any top flight. Well, at least this SBOTOP writer thinks so.

History

These rivals played 17 games since 2012. And in those 17 games, Inter Milan have won all but three! Verona have managed to tally a draw three times, and I honestly don’t see this trend falter given where these clubs are on the league standings.

Their most recent clash was a proper thrashing by Inter Milan where they humbled, even humiliated Verona with a 6-nil score line in front of Verona’s home fans. This match also serves as the biggest aggregate between these two outfits.

In recent form, Inter Milan are looking like they can’t do no wrong in the past few matchdays, leading the entire league in goals scored and the least amount of goals conceded. They’re alone at the summit of Serie A with 45 points. And they won four of their last five top flight matches. But their draw against Genoa keep Juventus within striking distance.

Meanwhile, Verona need to find consistency and quick. They’re currently tied with Cagliari with 14 points and their defence is keeping them afloat from being candidates for relegation. They won just one top flight match in their last five, but were able to tally two draws to boot.

Betting Tip

Expect Inter Milan to be hot off the gates, especially because of Juve’s threat to overtake them in the standings. Boasting the best offence in the entire top flight, scoring more than 1.25 goals before half time isn’t such a steep ask for Nerazzurri. That’s why my betting tip is first half goals over 1.25 at 1.90.

The SBOTOP 2024 betting odds, as usual, have their prices on point. Inter are the heavy favourites at 1.17, while Verona are humbly priced at 11.00 as the underdogs with 6.20 to draw.

 

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