Serie A leaders Inter travel to Mapei Stadium on Sunday evening to face mid-table Sassuolo, seeking to extend their commanding eight-point advantage at the top. The Nerazzurri sit first on 55 points from 23 matches, while Fabio Grosso's Sassuolo occupy 11th place with 29 points. Inter arrive as overwhelming favorites under Cristian Chivu, who has guided the champions to 18 wins from 23 league fixtures and maintained the best away record across Europe's top five leagues with nine victories in 11 road games.
Sassuolo ended a seven-match winless run with back-to-back victories, defeating Cremonese 1-0 at home before securing an impressive 3-1 win at Pisa last Friday. Those results lifted them clear of relegation trouble after a difficult January that saw three consecutive defeats to Juventus (0-3), Roma (0-2), and Napoli (0-1). The Neroverdi have scored just four goals in their last five matches but showed renewed attacking intent at Arena Garibaldi, where strikes from Domenico Berardi, Michel Aebischer, and Ismaël Koné sealed three crucial points.
Inter brushed aside Cremonese 2-0 on the road last Sunday, extending their winning streak to four league matches and seven consecutive away victories across all competitions. Lautaro Martínez opened the scoring with a 16th-minute header before Piotr Zielinski's fierce 30-yard strike doubled the advantage. The victory came three days after a commanding 2-0 win at Borussia Dortmund in the Champions League, with Chivu's men conceding just once in their last four Serie A fixtures while maintaining 68% possession against Giovanni Stroppa's side.
Inter have recorded 12 wins against Sassuolo in 25 all-time meetings, with Sassuolo claiming 11 victories and two draws completing the head-to-head record. The Nerazzurri have won six of the last nine Serie A encounters between the sides, including a 1-0 victory in the reverse fixture earlier this season. Sassuolo's home record against Inter shows promise with five wins from 12 meetings at Mapei Stadium, though they've won just three of their last six home matches across all competitions.
My prediction is away win to nil at 2.30. Inter have kept clean sheets in four of their last five Serie A matches while Sassuolo have failed to score in three of their last five games. The visitors average 2.07 goals per match on the road this season, while the hosts have managed just 1.08 at home. The xG projection (0.66–1.99) supports a 0-2 finish.
