Juventus vs Inter Tips: Nothing between Serie A titans
The third weekend of Serie A action and the programme kicks off with a belter as Juventus welcome Inter to Turin on Saturday evening for the Derby d'Italia.
Juve's spirits are sky-high after back-to-back wins over Parma and Genoa to hoist them to the top of the table.
The pressure is on Inter, however, after their shock 2-1 home defeat to Udinese in the round before the international break, a result which has ratcheted up the heat on new head coach Cristian Chivu.
The defeat was all the more surprising given they had crushed Torino 5-0 in their opener, and maybe that's the better omen as they prepare to shackle Turin's other club.
Juve were 1-0 winners when Inter last visited in February though the scorer that day, Flavio Conceicao, is set to miss out this weekend through an injury picked up playing for Portugal.
Team news
Juventus look set to be without Conceicao which means one of Teun Koopmeiners, Eden Zhegrova or Lois Openda gets to play in one of the two berths behind Jonathan David.
Coach Igor Tudor could instead switch to a 3-4-1-2 line-up and play Kenan Yildiz off a front two of David and Dusan Vlahovic.
Inter boss Chivu is expected to bring Henrik Mkhitaryan in for Petar Sucic to add real experience into midfield.
Manuel Akanji, a recent recruit from Manchester City, is pencilled in to replace Yann Bisseck in the back three.
Tip 1 – Draw @ 41/20
It is far too early into the Serie A campaign to be making sweeping statements about the starts made by bitter rivals Juventus and Inter.
It's not too early, however, to suggest that this clash of the giants is going to be tense and tight and could very well finish all-square.
Inter were 11 points superior to Juve last season but that was under title-winning boss Simone Inzaghi.
Chivu is in the chair now, trying to continue Inzaghi's work – he hasn't deviated from the 3-5-2 setup – but his first two results could not be more different.
The Nerazzurri opened the season with a free-wheeling 5-0 demolition of Torino. They followed it with an inexplicable 2-1 home loss to Udinese.
In a city and at a club where it doesn't take much for the word 'crisis' to start getting thrown about, Chivu needs to get back on the bike sharpish.
Juve under Igor Tudor are looking solid as illustrated by wins to nil over Parma and Genoa. They outclassed Parma but were less impressive at the Luigi Ferraris.
But hasty predictions after beating teams who will probably finish in the bottom half is dangerous, especially given Juve's inability to score many goals and the number of draws the invites, which was certainly the case last term when they racked up 16.
Each of the last five seasons has seen at least one draw in this fixture, in either league or cup. This could well be 2025/26's stalemate.
Tip 2 – Kenan Yildiz Over 1.5 Shots on Target @ 14/5
Young Turkish forward Yildiz has become a key figure in Juve's attacking game under Tudor and has started the season well.
The German-born 20-year-old managed two assists and three shots – two on target – in the 2-0 win over Parma and another effort on target in the 1-0 win at Genoa.
He has developed a fabulous understanding with David, will never shy away from having a go from distance and could be worth chancing at a nice price to have over 1.5 shots on target against Inter.
Tip 3 – Over 4.5 Inter Corners @ 22/25
Inter won six corners in their 5-0 win over Torino and piled up 13 as they tried to get back on terms against Udinese, ultimately falling short.
Both of those games were at home, now they are on their travels, but they can still be expected to amass over 4.5 corners in Turin.
Juve conceded six to Parma in their opener and three against Genoa and Inter are an appreciably greater attacking threat than either of those clubs.
Odds correct at time of publication but subject to change
