Dead-last Crotone and top-placed Inter go head-to-head at the Stadio Ezio Scida in a potentially high-scoring Serie A fixture on Saturday afternoon. The sides have had contrasting seasons, with Crotone on the verge of returning to Serie B while Inter close in on their first Serie A title in 11 years.
It is now a near certainty that the home side will compete in the Italian second-tier next season. Meanwhile, sitting 11 points clear of closest followers Atalanta, the traveling team are inches away from putting the brakes on Juventus’ dominance of Serie A football.
Crotone vs Inter Head-to-Head
Crotone have suffered three defeats in their previous five Serie A matches against Inter, winning one and drawing the remaining one. However, the hosts have to be wary of the fact they have conceded an average of 2.6 goals per game across those encounters.
Inter swept the Calabrians aside with a commanding 6-2 win in the reverse fixture back in January and are looking to complete their first-ever top-flight double over this opposition.
Teams Recent Forms
Crotone’s heroic display at the Ennio Tardini last time out saw them beat Parma 4-3 to put an end to a six-match losing run in Serie A.
Unfortunately, it might be a little too late for Calabrian minnows to stay in the top-flight. With five league matches left to go, they sit 13 points adrift of safety with quite unrealistic chances of avoiding relegation.
Serse Cosmi’s men have lost 75.76% of their Serie A games this season (25/33) and conceded a league-high 83 goals on an average of 2.51 per match. At the Ezio Scida, the Pitagorici have lost each of their last three league fixtures via a single-goal margin.
Crotone have developed a habit of falling behind without recovering, having lost 21 of the 22 Serie A outings in which they conceded first this season.
Since losing to Sampdoria on January 6, the visitors have put together 17 consecutive league matches without defeat (W13, D4) – their longest unbeaten run in Serie A since 2008. Antonio Conte’s men have got on the scoresheet in 14 league games in a row since being held to a bore draw at Udinese in late January, albeit they’ve netted precisely once in each of the last four.
Across Europe’s top-five divisions, only Chelsea (11) have registered more shutouts in the league than Inter (10) since the calendar flipped to 2021. The Nerazzurri have looked resolute at the back throughout the entire season, as they take the field as the only side yet to concede 30 goals in Serie A.
Unlike their rivals, the runaway Serie A leaders have shown tremendous character this season, picking themselves up after conceding the opener in eight of ten such contests (W4, D4, L2). Indeed, no Italian team have won more points from losing positions than Inter (16) so far.
Predicted Line-Ups
CROTONE (3-5-2): Alex Cordaz; Giuseppe Cuomo, Sebastiano Luperto, Lisandro Magallan; Pedro Pereira, Eduardo Henrique, Niccolo Zanellato, Luca Cigarini, Arkadiusz Reca; Junior Messias, Adam Ounas
INTER (3-5-2): Samir Handanovic; Milan Skriniar, Alessandro Bastoni, Stefan de Vrij; Achraf Hakimi, Nicolo Barella, Christian Eriksen, Marcelo Brozovic, Matteo Darmian; Lautaro Martinez, Romelu Lukaku