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Goals aplenty on the menu for Inter-Juve

(China Daily)
Updated: 2010-10-02 07:50

ROME - Football purists will be hoping for a goal glut when champion Inter Milan hosts giant Juventus in the plum tie of the weekend in Serie A.

Both sides have already smashed in four goals twice this season, most recently when Inter thumped Werder Bremen 4-0 in the Champions League on Wednesday.

What's more, Juve has the best attack in Serie A with 12 goals in five games but also has the joint worst defence alongside AS Roma and Udinese - both in the bottom three - having leaked nine.

Inter has hit four goals in two of its past three matches and it all points to the potential for an entertaining encounter on Sunday.

However, it is difficult to see the visitors emerging victorious.

Champion Inter is top of Serie A with 10 points, ahead of Lazio on goal difference while Juve is three points back in mid-table.

Although Inter has not always impressed this season, it did grind out crucial 2-1 victories against Udinese and Palermo before hammering Bari 4-0.

It only real blip was a 1-0 defeat at Roma last time out courtesy of Mirko Vucinic's injury-time winner.

But even without forwards Diego Milito and Goran Pandev and captain Javier Zanetti, it was highly impressive on Wednesday in Europe.

Juve, on the other hand, has been wildly inconsistent this campaign but it has made for entertaining viewing.

It has twice drawn 3-3 at home against Sampdoria and then in the Europa League against minnow Lech Poznan.

It was well beaten when going down 1-0 at Bari and 3-1 at home to Palermo but has shown glimpses of its potential when winning 4-0 at Udinese and 4-2 at home to Cagliari.

The problem for Juve is that it has never looked secure at the back and if there is one team likely to exploit that, it is Inter.

Inter's players are confident ahead of the game with Argentina midfielder Esteban Cambiasso insisting Wednesday's win over Werder had changed nothing for them.

"I don't think it changes anything, we already knew before the game that we were top of the league," he said.

"In the changing room we are always calm but you can never control what others are saying."

There is an unlikely top-of-the-table clash this weekend in Rome where Lazio entertain newly-promoted Brescia, with either team capable of heading the table with a victory.

Brescia has been a breath of fresh air and could already have been top but for last week's 2-1 defeat at Bari.

Lazio's rise is perhaps no less surprising given its financial difficulties and the sale of star players, such as Pandev, over recent years to try to balance the books.