Spezia v Inter stat pack

MILAN – Thiago Motta’s Spezia will play host to Inter at 19:00 CEST on Friday 15 April in Serie A Week 33. We bring you the key facts and figures to get stuck into ahead of the showdown at the Stadio Alberto Picco.

PERISIC BAGGED INTER’S LAST GOAL AT THE STADIO ALBERTO PICCO

Ivan Perisic was the last Inter player to get on the scoresheet away to Spezia when he bagged the equaliser in a 1-1 draw last season to cancel out Diego Farias’s opener. The Nerazzurri are unbeaten against Spezia in Serie A and the Coppa Italia, with a record of four wins and one draw, during which they’ve mustered 13 goals and shipped just three.

BACK-TO-BACK CLEAN SHEETS FOR BOTH SIDES

Inter and Spezia have both managed to keep clean sheets in their last two league games. The Nerazzurri head into the clash off the back of the crucial 1-0 triumph away to Juventus and a 2-0 success at home to Hellas Verona, while Motta’s side beat Venezia by a solitary goal before a goalless stalemate with Empoli last time out. With 65 goals scored and just 24 conceded, Inter boast both the most prolific attack and meanest defence in the league. The current tally of 14 clean sheets in 31 games already matches the total from 2020/21, while 2018/19 (17) is the last campaign in which the Nerazzurri mustered more.

Spezia have exactly the same number of points (33) after 32 games as they did last season, but there have been fewer goals at both ends this time around, with the team scoring ten fewer (32) and conceding six fewer (54).

INTER’S AWAY FORM AND SPEZIA AGAINST THE TOP SIDES

Inter (W5, D5) and Juventus are the two teams on the longest current unbeaten runs on the road in Serie A this season. The Nerazzurri have kept an impressive seven clean sheets in that time.

Spezia have picked up three successes in six meetings with teams that were in the top two in Serie A at the time, winning the two most recent ones against Napoli on 22 December and Milan on 17 January. Inter, meanwhile, have picked up the highest average number of points per game (2.6) this season against sides in the bottom half of the standings, racking up 36 points in 14 matches.

GOALS: HOW AND WHEN

The fixture pits the team that has scored the most headed goals in Serie A this season (Inter, 15) against the side that has netted the fewest (two for Spezia). Only Sevilla (eight) have conceded fewer goals than Simone Inzaghi’s charges (ten) in the second half of matches this season among teams in the top five European leagues. The Nerazzurri have found the net the most times from crosses (18) while also conceding the fewest goals by the same measure (three along with Udinese).

HANDANOVIC'S MINUTES AND INTER STATS

Samir Handanovic is the only Inter player yet to miss a minute of Serie A action so far this term (2,790).

Nicolo Barella has registered nine assists this term, with only Domenico Berardi (11) on more. Since Serie A went back to a 20-team league in 2004/05, only two Inter midfielders have reached double figures in the assist charts: Dejan Stankovic (ten in 2006/07) and Antonio Candreva (ten in 2016/17).

Ivan Perisic is one of five midfielders who have been involved in at least 80 Serie A goals (46 goals and 34 assists), alongside Josip Ilicic (107), Alejandro Gomez (103), Luis Alberto (81) and Sergej Milinkovic-Savic (81) since 2015/16.

Denzel Dumfries is one of just four defenders with at least four goals and assists to their name this season in Europe’s big five leagues, in the company of Theo Hernandez, Reece James and Jonathan Clauss.

Roberto Gagliardini made 14 appearances for Spezia in Serie B in 2014/15 under Nenad Bjelica, scoring a solitary goal along the way.

DISCIPLINARY DETAILS

SUSPENDED

Spezia: N/A

Inter: N/A

ONE BOOKING FROM SUSPENSION

Spezia: Erlic, Gyasi, Thiago Motta (coach).

Inter: Bastoni, Perisic, Vidal.