A look ahead to Lazio vs. Inter, facts and figures

MILAN – After the Derby win and the Coppa Italia semi-final first leg defeat, Inter return to the pitch this Sunday at the Stadio Olimpico in matchday 24 of Serie A TIM for a match against Lazio. The Nerazzurri are top of the league after 23 games on 54 points, level with Juventus with the Biancocelesti one point behind. The game will kick-off at 20:45 CET.

In collaboration with Opta, here’s a look at some facts and figures regarding the game.

LAZIO VS. INTER, HEAD-TO-HEAD IN SERIE A

The Nerazzuri and Lazio have faced off 153 times in Serie A. The Nerazzurri have won 64 of those (with 244 goals scored against 169 conceded), while the Biancocelesti have won 36 and the remaining 53 finished in draws.

For the first time in Serie A history two teams play each other on matchday 24 with a combined total of 107 points (Inter 54, Lazio 53). The previous record at this stage of the season was in the 2017/18 season when Napoli played Lazio combining to make 106 points.

In the last 23 matches between Inter and Lazio in the top division, there have been just two draws, with 13 Nerazzurri wins and eight for Lazio.

Inter have lost only one of their last seven Serie A games against Lazio (with five wins and one draw), during which they have kept four clean sheets.

Lazio have lost their last three home games in Serie A against Inter, which is the Biancocelesti’s longest losing streak at home in the league against a single opponent.

Lazio have scored in eight of their last nine home games against Inter in the league, however they failed to score on the most recent occasion in October 2018.

Inter have won four of their last five league games played at the Stadio Olimpico (one draw) against Lazio or Roma, the same number of wins as in their previous 18 matches in this stadium.

FORM GUIDE

Lazio (18) and Inter (16) are the two sides with the longest unbeaten streaks in Serie A; the Biancocelesti’s last league defeat was in fact in their previous league match against the Nerazzurri.

Their 18-match unbeaten streak is in fact a record for Lazio in Serie A; overall, the last team to have a longer streak in the competition was Juventus’s 31 game run that ended in March 2019.

Inter are on a handy streak of their own in the league having gone 16 games unbeaten with ten wins and six draws; the Nerazzurri haven’t had a longer unbeaten streak (18) in Serie A since December 2017.It is Lazio’s best start to a Serie A season in terms of points (53) after 23 matchdays, while Inter hadn’t amassed 54 points at this stage of a season since 2007/08 (when they had 59 points by now).

Lazio haven’t conceded a goal in their last two Serie A games; the Biancocelesti haven’t kept three consecutive clean sheets in the league since March 2015, when Stefano Pioli was their manager.

This is just the second time in their history that Inter have won nine of their first eleven away games in Serie A (the first time was in 2006/07); overall only two teams have done better: Napoli’s ten away wins in 2017/18, and Juventus’ ten in 2018/19.

GENERAL STATS

Inter and Lazio are the two teams to have conceded the fewest goals (20) in the league, however, since the 2010/11 season, the best defences in Serie A by matchday 24 have always conceded fewer than 20.

In addition, this clash contains two of the four teams with the most clean sheets in Serie A so far, with both teams level on eight clean sheets with Verona and AC Milan.

Inter (54.3%) and Lazio (51.4%) are the two teams with the highest shot accuracy in Serie A so far.

Inter’s eleven headed goals so far is a record in Serie A, whereas Lazio have only registered three.

Inter are the first team in Serie A to have racked up 1000 minutes in the lead (1018 minutes), which is the third highest across Europe’s top five leagues after Liverpool (1289 minutes) and Paris Saint-Germain (1169 minutes).

No team has scored more goals (17) from dead ball situations that Lazio in Serie A this season, although Inter have the best set-piece defence having only conceded twice from such situations.

Lazio are the team who have scored the most penalties, ten, in Europe’s top five leagues in 2019/20.

Lazio are, together with Sampdoria, the team who have lost the fewest points from winning positions in Serie A (three points); although out of the five games in which Inter have been behind they have won three (60%) which is a league high.

PLAYER FOCUS

Romelu Lukaku is the player to have scored the most away goals (twelve) in Eurpoe’s top five leagues in 2019/20, but on the other hand, Ciro Immobile is the player who has scored the most home goals (15, joint with Cristiano Ronaldo).

No player has scored more away goals in their debut season than Romelu Lukaku’s current tally of twelve, level with Andriy Shevchenko in 1999/2000 and Antonio Vojak in 1929/30 – the season when Serie A became one round-robin league.

In the last 60 years of Serie A, only Zico (17, in the 1983/84 season) and Cristiano Ronaldo (18, in 2018/19) have scored at least the same number of goals as Romelu Lukaku (17) after matchday 23 in their debut season.

Lazio are Matías Vecino’s favourite Serie A opponent, with three goals scored, all coming at the Stadio Olimpico; in no stadium has he scored more goals (matching his total of four at San Siro and at the Franchi).

Marcelo Brozovic, who was among the goals in the last matchday in Serie A, has been involved in a goal in each of his last three Serie A visits to the Stadio Olimpico: a goal in October 2018, an assist in May 2018 against Lazio and an assist against Roma in December 2018.

Stefan de Vrij played his first 95 Serie A games for Lazio, registering eight goals (all with Simone Inzaghi as Coach) for the Biancocelesti.

Danilo D’Ambrosio scored his last Serie A goal in the first set of fixtures against Lazio last September. The Biancocelesti are the side against which he has had most goal involvements in the competition (five: two goals, three assists).

Antonio Candreva played 151 Serie A games for Lazio (between 2012 and 2016) scoring 41 times. Samir Handanovic is also an ex-Lazio player having played one Serie A game for the Biancocelesti in 2005/06. Tommaso Berni’s first six Serie A appearances came while playing for Lazio, between 2007 and 2011.

Sergej Milinkovic-Savic was the player who scored in Lazio’s last league win against Inter, a 1-0 victory at San Siro in March 2019. That is his only league goal in nine games, against both Inter and AC Milan, in that stadium.

Despite being the player with the most assists (eleven) in the competition, Luis Alberto has not registered an assist in seven league games, only once has he had a worse run than this in Serie A back in December 2018 where he went twelve games without assisting.

Since Simone Inzaghi’s first Serie A game in charge of the Biancocelesti, in April 2016, Lazio have won 58% of games in which Senad Lulic has played, a percentage that drops to 31% without the Bosnian on the pitch. Lulic will not be able to play in Sunday’s match.

Ciro Immobile hasn’t scored in two league games, he hasn’t gone three league games in a row without scoring since May 2019.