Milan x Inter

Background
Money may be scarce, but this match will be passionate, exciting, and ferocious as ever. A Milan derby is always a massive game, and considering this season's circumstances the early derby is even more pivotal than usual. There's more than pride on the line, this match will have important ramifications for Serie A. Juventus and Napoli are leading the way this year on 16 points from 6 games. Inter is already over a game off the pace in 3rd place with 12 points, whereas Milan have had an absolutely miserable start to the campaign, languishing in 11th place on 7 points. That's 3 wins off top spot and 5 points off the Champions League places.

Recent Form
Nevertheless, there is hope for both sides. It is still possible to bridge the gap to the top this early in the season. Momentum is crucial and both sides will want to build on their last few results. Milan's last defeat was at the hands of Udinese, 4 games ago. Since then the team has recovered somewhat with a 2-0 victory over Cagliari, a 1-1 draw with Parma and a 2-3 win away at Zenit St. Petersburg in the Champions League. Inter's last loss was also 4 games ago, a shock 2-0 defeat to Siena. Subsequently, Inter returned to good form with victory over Chievo (2-0), Fiorentina (2-1) and a 1-3 win over Azerbaijani side Neftchi in the Europa League. Milan have had one extra day of rest since Europa League games are played later in the week than Champions League games.

San Zero
The semi-synthetic turf curse is over with Milan claiming a win over Cagliari and Inter defeating Fiorentina at home. Don't expect a draw. The last time the Milanese sides shared points was in October '04, 19 games ago. Now that I've mentioned that, the chances of a draw have surely increased.

Head to Head
Stramaccioni and Allegri have only played each other once before, on the penultimate matchday of last season. Inter were the victors on that occasion, 4-2, ending Milan's title challenge to Juventus in the process. In that game, Milito scored a hattrick for Inter (Maicon got the other goal) and Ibrahimovic scored a brace for Milan. In last season's first derby Inter also defeated Milan thanks again to a solitary strike from Milito (or an awful gaffe by Abate, depending on how you look at it). For a Milan win you have to go back to the season before that, where Milan won all three games against Inter (including the Supercup).

What to Expect
I can't foresee a draw, although one is overdue. Both teams need this win and I expect a spirited, tenacious, hard-fought battle for the whole 90 minutes. Midfield supply will be crucial. Gargano will be given the job to shackle Montolivo, whilst De Jong will be tasked with breaking up Inter's play through the centre of the field. The battle on the wings sees the tactically astute Zanetti and Nagatomo face-off against the speedy Abate and De Sciglio. Inter's duo prefer to overlap, whilst Milan's wing-backs will look to go on long runs and cut in centrally on occasion. Goals are bound to be scored by the in-form strikers against suspect defences.

Everything suggests that this will be a spectacular, high scoring game between two teams with similar levels of quality. I can only hope that the referees will do this fixture justice.

Forza Milan!