Reigning champions Inter Milan could be 90 minutes away from retaining their Serie A title on Sunday, if they can claim maximum points against final-day opponents Sampdoria at San Siro.
While city rivals Milan remain favourites for the Scudetto due to a two-point advantage, Inter must still win and hope for their Rossonero rivals to slip up in Sassuolo.
Match preview
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Needing to better Milan's result in order to reclaim the Serie A summit at the end of an absorbing campaign, Inter approach the final 90 minutes of the season on the back of a four-match winning run.
As well as adding a dramatic extra-time victory in the Coppa Italia final over old rivals Juventus to Supercoppa success against the same opponents earlier this year, the Nerazzurri have beaten Udinese, Empoli and Cagliari since a shock loss to Bologna last month struck a blow to their hopes of holding on to the Scudetto.
Having finally held the trophy aloft in 2021 after nine long years of Juve dominance, Inter would dearly love to add a 20th national title to their cup win - claiming the double for the first time since the Jose Mourinho era more than a decade ago.
Under current coach Simone Inzaghi - following in the wake of irrepressible predecessor Antonio Conte - they have certainly stretched every sinew in the pursuit of league glory. Currently on 81 points, with three more to play for on Sunday evening, on five of the previous six occasions Inter have exceeded 80 since the 1988 season, they have gone on to be crowned champions.
One more victory in an impressive debut campaign at San Siro would take Inzaghi to 25 Serie A wins for the season, and his side are already guaranteed to finish with the division's best home record, while also leading the goalscoring charts with 81 so far.
Such has been the relentless pace set by Milan, though, even seven wins from their last eight league fixtures has failed to take the Nerazzurri back to the top of the table, but where they sit after 38 matches are completed is of most importance to those on the black-and-blue side of Italy's second city.
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Though they managed to hold Inter to a 2-2 draw in September's reverse fixture at Marassi, before arriving in Milan this week, Sampdoria's last league win at San Siro dates back to April 2017.
Indeed, that rare triumph is Samp's only success against Sunday's hosts in the clubs' last 19 meetings at Inter's iconic home ground - there have otherwise been only five draws and 13 defeats there for the Blucerchiati during that period.
Edging over the line to Serie A safety, Sampdoria have collected seven points from their last four league games - one more than they posted in the previous nine - and are now the same number clear of the drop zone following a surprise result earlier this week.
Given the Ligurian outfit had beaten only Serie A's bottom two since the middle of February, Monday night's 4-1 defeat of top-six contenders Fiorentina came as something of a shock, as they struck twice in each half to seal just their sixth home win of the season in some style.
The finishing line is now in sight for Marco Giampaolo's men, but it has largely been an abject campaign at Marassi - only made marginally better for fans by the demise of city rivals Genoa, who are Serie B-bound.
The Sampdoria coach has certainly struggled to turn their fortunes around since returning in January, and producing a win to help former employers Milan secure the title is perhaps asking too much on the last day of a season to forget.
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Team News
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Again favoured by fortune in terms of absences from his Inter squad, Simone Inzaghi has almost everyone fit and available to aid the final push, so is expected to field a similar lineup to that which started in Sardinia last Sunday.
Only midfielder Roberto Gagliardini is set to miss out on the final day of the season, after sustaining a foot injury in training. Though unlikely to have been a starter in any case, he did make an impact from the bench in the 3-1 win at Cagliari; setting up Lautaro Martinez's second goal.
Veteran forward Edin Dzeko remains favourite ahead of Alexis Sanchez and Joaquin Correa to join in-form Martinez up front. Since the beginning of March, the latter has scored more goals than anyone else in Serie A (10).
Meanwhile, wing-back Ivan Perisic has delivered the most assists (six) in addition to a match-winning double in the cup final, and the soon-to-depart wide man will feature on the left flank of Inzaghi's familiar 3-5-2 formation.
Sampdoria's Omar Colley is suspended on Sunday, after receiving a late red card against Fiorentina, while Inter loanee Stefano Sensi misses out against his parent club due to injury.
Either Maya Yoshida or Giangiacomo Magnani should fill in for Colley at the heart of the visitors' defence, while veteran forward Fabio Quagliarella - who scored on Monday - will hope to retain his place up front, ahead of Marco Giampaolo's usual first choice, Francesco Caputo.
Inter are the team former Nerazzurri winger Antonio Candreva has scored the most goals against in Serie A, including five in his six most recent games for either Samp or Lazio, and he is expected to go head-to-head with Perisic on Samp's right flank.
Inter Milan possible starting lineup:
Handanovic; Skriniar, De Vrij, Bastoni; Dumfries, Barella, Brozovic, Calhanoglu, Perisic; Martinez, Dzeko
Sampdoria possible starting lineup:
Audero; Bereszynski, Ferrari, Yoshida, Augello; Vieira; Candreva, Thorsby, Rincon, Sabiri; Quagliarella
We say: Inter Milan 2-0 Sampdoria
Eleven goals in their last three games - including 30 minutes of Coppa Italia final extra time - suggests that Inter are holding nothing back in their pursuit of the double.
It would take an improbable turn of events for Sampdoria to deprive them of three points on Sunday, so they will take care of business at San Siro and await news from Sassuolo's Mapei Stadium with bated breath.
For additional data used by our team to analyse our suggested result please click here.
