ICC football comes to France on Saturday as Chelsea vs Inter Milan is the main attraction at the Allianz Riviera Stadium in Nice.
It’s a classy place to be, and fans in the South of France will see two classy teams in an intriguing pre-season clash. Chelsea has long been the aristocrat of English Football, famed on the Kings Road for its fashion and flair, all of which will fit in beautifully in Nice. And opponents Inter are no strangers to style, Milan being the capital city of chic in Italy.
But hey, this is football and it doesn’t really matter how you look, it’s what you can do with the ball! And that’s what we’ll be looking for in our Chelsea vs Inter Milan highlights.
Talking Points
It’s all change again at Stamford Bridge as Roman Abramovich has show the door to another coach. Antonio Conte won the league in his first season in charge at Chelsea as he won the hearts of fans with his unbridled passion. But that may have been his undoing after he fell out with outgoing star Diego Costa, a player he clearly missed in an underwhelming second season.
So new boss Maurizio Sarri has taken the helm at one of the EPL’s biggest clubs at a time when it will be participating in Europe’s second competition, the Europa League. He’ll be taking that competition very seriously as well as doing all he can to finish in the top four in the EPL.
As we’ll be watching two of the bigger spenders in world football our Chelsea vs Inter Milan predictions wouldn’t be complete without looking at their transfer plans! And Sarri has already raided his old club Napoli, with the signing of Brazilian midfielder Jorginho after Manchester City had pulled out of a £50 million deal.
There is talk of Thibaut Courtois interesting the recruitment team at Real Madrid and, if he goes, then Sarri has his eyes on England’s World Cup goalie Jordan Pickford. So it looks like the new manager has his finger on the pulse; though some eyebrows were raised at the news the Blues have signed 38 year old keeper Robert Green, who has been released by Huddersfield.
Not everything makes sense!
Sarri’s first game in charge was a 1-0 win over Perth Glory, thanks to a Pedro goal, as Chelsea travelled all the way around the world on the way to Nice, where the new boss may have more of his stars available from the World Cup.
The Nerazzuri’s pre-season is further underway starting with a win and a loss in Switzerland, followed by two draws, a 3-3 with Russian giants Zenit St Petersburg and then a 1-1 draw with English second tier side Sheffield United.
Boss Luciano Spaletti knows this is a big year for the Milan side, back in the Champions League and he has already made one of the signings of the summer, bringing in Belgium midfielder Radja Nainggolan. The former Roma man is sure to be an attraction with his spectacular tattoos and haircuts, as well as his tough tacking and fierce shooting.
But Sarri also needs to keep hold of his big players.
Inter striker Mauro Icardi had a sensational season in Serie A, joint top scoring with Lazio’s Ciro Immobile. It’s Icardi’s shooting accuracy which makes the difference, of his 84 shots last season, 53 were on target resulting in 29 goals! That’s the highest percentage accuracy of any Serie A goal-scorer who netted ten or more goals.
That kind of potency is worth its weight in gold.
History
Both these two teams started their pre-season preparations in good spirits thanks to a very memorable end to their 2017/18 seasons.
Chelsea finished up by winning the FA Cup against Manchester United, as Eden Hazard gave Conte a nice leaving present with the only goal of the game from the penalty spot.
Meanwhile Inter had a dramatic Serie A fixture against Lazio, where they grabbed the last Champions League slot in a 3-2 win, which meant Lazio missed out, and in their anger finished up with nine men. All of which is good news for top scorer Icardi, who’s goal-scoring prowess deserves to be seen at the very highest level.
He’s already bagged two goals in pre-season in the last two outings, and Chelsea will need to keep a very close eye on him.
In last year’s ICC clash Inter ran out 2-1 winners against Chelsea, with Croatian World Cup star Ivan Perisic among the goals.
What are the odds?
This will be an exciting game and it’s difficult to call, with each facing their toughest test yet of pre-season.
The SBOBET odds have Chelsea at 2.29 and Inter at 2.95, with a draw at 3.30.
You can get 2.23 on Inter, Draw no Bet, and if you really fancy the Italians to repeat their feat of 2017, then a 2-1 win for Spaletti’s men pays a handsome 9.75.
Disclaimer: Odds are correct at time of publish.
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