Next Monday, 23rd of February 2015, the former Italian powerhouses, Inter Milan, will travel to the Island of Sardinia to measure forces with Cagliari at Stadio Sant’Elia for round 24 of the Italian Serie A. The Nerazzurri are currently going through a very positive moment on domestic competitions and will certainly try to snatch their third win in row against a Cagliari in need for points and struggling against relegation at the bottom of the table.

After last weekend’s impressive win at Bergamo against Atalanta, Roberto Mancini’s new Inter Milan have not found a way to overcome Celtic for the UEFA Europa League. The Milanese side had an overall good performance but when they were ready to commemorate a splendid 3-2 win, Guidetti clinched the equalizer for the Scottish champions and spoiled Inter’s premature celebrations. Nevertheless, the 3-3 draw at Glasgow is a fairly good result for Inter Milan who have now everything in their favour to proceed to the next round of the competition when they host Celtic next week at San Siro.

Inter Milan have been fairly inconsistent so far this season and not even the arrival of the former manager of Manchester City Roberto Mancini was enough to bring the Nerazzurri the peace of mind they need to start evolving as a team. The upcoming fixture at the Island of Sardinia against the relegation-threatened Cagliari will most definitely not be a walk in the park for the Milanese side, who needs to avoid, at all costs, an upset such as the one that happened against Sassuolo not very long ago. For that particular clash, Roberto Mancini will probably still not be able to rely on the contribution of Moreira and Nagatomo, both currently sidelined due to injury.

As for Cagliari, the islanders are having a season to forget so far. They are currently third from bottom with three points less than Atalanta, who are the first team above the relegation line. After two consecutive Serie A defeats, Cagliari managed to somehow bounce back last week and snatched an important draw away from home against Torino. Such valuable point might work as a catalyst for a team that desperately needs to grab some points if they don’t want to be thrown into the catacombs of Serie B next season.

If we have in mind Inter’s recent improvements, I believe it is fair to name them as firm favourites for next Monday’s match at Stadio Sant’Elia.

Cagliari

Stats: W-1 L-2 D-2

Recent Form - DLLWD

Inter Milan

Stats: W-2 L-1 D-2

Recent Form - DWDWL

Possible Line-ups

Cagliari (4-2-3-1) - Brkic - Dessena - Rossettini - Capuano - Avelar - Donsah - Conti - Ekdal - Sau - Cossu - Cop

Inter Milan (4-1-3-2) - Handanovic - Campagnaro - Ranocchia - Santon - Jesus - Kovacic - Kuzmanovic - Medel - Shaqiri - Palacio - Icardi

Prediction

Cagliari 1 Inter Milan 2