Troublesome Inter side are in for another hard test as Southampton, Group K leaders, travel to Giuseppe Meazza in a very good form.
After falling against two ‘weaker’ opponents – Hapoel Beer Sheva and Sparta Prague – Inter now have to beat Southampton in order to progress.
Inter find themselves in all sort of troubles – not only they lost two opening Europa League matches, but also find themselves in the 11th place in Serie A at the moment, failing to record victory since 21 September (Empoli).
Also, all the events around Mauro Icardi, his autobiography and clash with part of the fans have left all concerned with the Italian sleeping giant in pretty grim and gloomy mood. Frank De Boer has already lost the trust of some avid Inter supporters and it will be definitely interesting to see how he responds to this stern test.
Victory against Southampton could yet change all that as Nerazzurri would climb back into the serious contention for the knockout stages. However, the task will be hard. Southampton are on fire with seven consecutive matches without a defeat in all competitions and will hope to continue that.
Potential victory here would widely open the door of qualification for Puel’s side. Solid defending has been the basis of Southampton’s game lately – the Saints have kept clean sheets in six of their last seven games, with Euro 2016-winning centre-back Jose Fonte forming an excellent pairing with Dutchman Virgil van Dijk.
Venue: Giuseppe Meazza, Milan, Italy
Referee: Gediminas Mazeika (LTU)
Head to Head:
This is the sides first ever meeting in what is Southampton’s first encounter with Serie A opponents. Meanwhile, Inter’s 28 games against English clubs have yielded stats of W13 D4 L11 (W9 D3 L2 in Milan). They have won their three most recent home fixtures with Premier League visitors.
Match facts:
- Inter are on a four-match European losing streak after defeats by two-goal margins in their opening Group K games.
- UEFA Cup winners in 1991, 1994 and 1998, Inter have successfully negotiated both of their previous UEFA Europa League group stage campaigns.
- Southampton, Shakhtar Donetsk and Beer-Sheva are the only sides still to concede in this season’s group stage coming into matchday three.
- Southampton have won just once in their last seven European away fixtures (W1 D3 L3) – a 2-0 success at Vitesse in last season’s UEFA Europa League third qualifying round. They failed to score in the other six.
- Southampton are debuting in a UEFA competition group stage.
- Inter have played more UEFA Cup and UEFA Europa League games than any other club, 177 – and have also won (87) and drawn (43) the most matches.
- Frenchman Claude Puel was appointed by Southampton in June. A one-club man, he spent his entire playing career with Monaco, claiming two league titles as a player and one more as a coach. He has since held the reins at LOSC, Lyon and – in the past four seasons – Nice.
Team news – Inter 
Where to start? Inter are a mess at the moment – off the field problems are spilling onto the playing surface, not least the controversy surrounding star striker Mauro Icardi.Having described brutal clashes with sections of Inter’s hardcore support in his autobiography (he threatened to bring Argentinian criminals over to Italy to kill fans he was arguing with), Icardi missed a first-half penalty in the weekend’s 2-1 home defeat to Cagliari, and some of the Inter fans cheered. They wanted him stripped of the captaincy, but the club have decided to merely fine him and he isn’t expected to play.
Other than that, Felipe Melo is doubtful while Geoffrey Kondogbia, Joao Mario, Stevan Jovetic and Gabriel are not included in Frank De Boer’s Europa League squad.
Team news – Southampton 
After a slow start under new coach Claude Puel, Southampton are on the charge. Saints have won five of their last seven games in all competitions, and they haven’t lost a match since a last-gasp defeat at Arsenal in early September. Cedric Soares, Ryan Bertrand and Matt Targett are not in the squad for this trip and it will be interesting to see how will Puel assemble his defence.
Jeremy Pied and Florin Gardos are also ruled out for the visitors while some players like Charlie Austin could be rested.
Players to watch:
- These two players should lead their respective teams.
- Ever Banega was Inter’s wish for quite a long time, and it’s pretty clear why. With a goal and two assists in seven Serie A games, the midfielder holds the keys of Inter’s game so far.
- Meanwhile, Virgil van Dijk is central puzzle of Southampton’s defence that works very well at the moment.
- With steadiness he provides at the back, the Saints are able to build their game and look for opportunities forward.
From : Sofascore.com
