Southampton won’t get a better opportunity to beat Italian giants Inter Milan considering the situation the San Siro club are in. The Italian giants sacked their manager Frank de Boer on Tuesday after just 85 days in charge at the club. The Dutchman was brought in to replace former Manchester City boss Roberto Mancini but had a disappointing start at San Siro as the Nerazzurri find themselves 12th in the Serie A table.
The Italian giants will travel to St. Mary’s this Thursday night in the fourth round game of the Europa League group stage. The two sides met each other at San Siro last month where Southampton lost 1-0 despite being the better of the two sides for most parts of the game. The Group K still remains an open affair with all four sides having a significant chance of progressing to the round of 16.
Sparta Prague are leading the group with six points while Southampton and Hapoel Be’er Sheva both have three points. Inter Milan have just three points and are sitting bottom in the group. The outcome of this game will have a big say on who makes it to the next round from the group.
Team news
Southampton
The Saints have a lengthy injury list right now. Full-backs Cedric Soares, Jeremy Pied and Matt Targett are out injured. Alex McCarthy, Jay Rodriguez, Shane Long and Jake Hesketh are also missing through injuries.
Inter Milan
Ionut Radu, Geoffrey Kondogbia and Eloge Koffi Yao Guy are missing through injuries for Inter Milan.
Predicted lineups
Southampton (4-3-3): Forster; Martina, van Dijk, Fonte, Bertrand; Davis, Romeu, Ward-Prowse; Bertrand, Austin, Boufal
Inter Milan (4-1-4-1): Handanovic; Ansaldi, Miranda, Murillo, Santon; Mario; Candreva, Brozovic, Banega, Perisic; Icardi
Key players
Southampton- Charlie Austin
Charlie Austin did not start the season as the first-choice forward at Southampton but he slowly established himself as a key player under Puel while both Shane Long and Jay Rodriguez were struggling for fitness and form. The Englishman has played 12 games in all competitions this season and has scored 7 goals and will be posing the biggest threat to the Inter defence.
Inter Milan- Mauro Icardi
Despite Inter struggling so badly this season, their talisman and skipper Icardi’s form has been pretty good. The Argentine has scored eight goals from 11 Serie A games this season but yet to score in Europa League. Southampton must ensure that they deal with the threat posed by the 23-year-old.
Odds
Southampton – 8/11
Draw – 13/5
Inter – 9/2
