Inter vs Monza prediction: ITALY: Serie A betting tips on match 2023-08-18 18:45.
Only one top-half team lost more Serie A (SA) matches than Inter Milan last season, perhaps making them fortunate to achieve a third-placed finish. Their ultimate success last season came in the Champions League, where their loss in the final was hailed a success by manager Simone Inzaghi, who praised his “extraordinary” players after a season of intense scrutiny that also saw Inter win the Coppa Italia.
The Nerazzurri will want to go one better on the domestic front this season, eyeing up a 20th SA title that has been eluding them since 2020/21, but that’ll have to be achieved with a squad that bears a very different look. Inter are boosted by the arrivals of Marcus Thuram and Marko Arnautović, but the departures of André Onana and Marcelo Brozović, coupled with the annual sagal around Romelu Lukaku, means Inter are arguably weaker than they were last season!
One side that finished in the bottom-half and earned more plaudits than some of the top-half sides was Monza. Their 11th place finish and 52-point haul saw them not only amass the highest points tally amongst the newly-promoted sides last season in Europe’s top-five leagues, but also the second-highest total for any SA debutant in history! Success against Inter certainly contributed to that tally too, with Monza remaining unbeaten in league H2Hs (W1, D1).
Monza will need to take motivation from that record to spur them on in their post-Silvio Berlusconi era, having failed to start their last three league campaigns with a win (D2, L1). The visitors have managed to add some interesting names to their roster, recruiting experienced SA campaigners Matteo Pessina, Andrea Petagna, Gianluca Caprari and Danilo D’Ambrosio, all of whom bring a bit of Milan experience with them.
Players to watch: Lautaro MartĂnez ended the last league campaign with seven goals and three assists from eight matches and the forward scored Inter’s last league H2H goal. Also looking for an impact, his former teammate Danilo D'Ambrosio, a 284-game veteran at Inter, started his Monza competitive career with a goal in a 2-1 Coppa Italia defeat to Reggiana on Monday.
Hot stat: Inter are unbeaten across their last ten SA home campaign openers (W8, D2).