The 229th staging of the Milan Derby sees the red-and-black club host their blue-and-black rivals at the grand old Stadio Giuseppe Meazza. Defending Serie A champions Inter Milan trail their town rivals by seven points ahead of the season’s first Derby della Madonnina and a potential defeat could crush the hopes of Nerazzurri recording back-to-back domestic titles.Domestically, Stefano Pioli’s squad are flying high ahead of the big occasion. They are toe to toe with leaders Napoli due to a run of seven straight wins, but it is a completely different story in the Champions League – only one point in four matches of Group B.Also, the head-to-head matches lately do not go in favour of AC Milan – Serie A’s second-placed side have lost their last three Derbies as the nominal home team.Former Inter coach Pioli manages an exciting young squad, led by some more seasoned professionals such as another ex-Inter man, Zlatan Ibrahimovic.Heaven smiles on Juventus as Cuadrado hits a fortunate injury-time win over FiorentinaAntonio Conte’s successor, Simone Inzaghi has his Inter crew on a good path. Since a 3-1 loss to Lazio in the middle of last month, Nerazzurri have gone unbeaten at home and abroad. Only the controversial late penalty in the Derby d’Italia draw prevented them from claiming five wins in a row.In the Champions League, Inter stand much better than their tonight’s rivals as they are second behind Real Madrid and in a good position to progress from Group D.Inzaghi will be concerned about the gap to both Milan and Napoli, which could grow to a full 10 points with defeat on Sunday – a minor silver lining may be the lead over Juventus by nine points already, of course with finally ending the Bianconeri’s domestic dominance last season.Iconic clashes, legendary players, and a historic venue.Milan vs Inter is always special! 😍🇮🇹 📺 Derby di Milano | BT Sport 1 HD | 7.45pm pic.twitter.com/r2bkSW8DGC— Football on BT Sport (@btsportfootball) November 7, 2021 As Inter seek a crucial fourth Derby win out of five, Inzaghi has the rare luxury of a fully-fit squad to choose from. Most recent player who swapped shirts of these two city rivals, Inter’s Hakan Calhanoglu, should receive a colourful reception should take one of the spots in the midfield.Meanwhile, AC Milan have had no luck with injuries lately, but even so good news are that Brahim Diaz and Ante Rebic should be back in the squad. Samu Castillejo, Alessio Romagnoli, Junior Messias and goalkeeper Mike Maignan are set to remain sidelined.A minority of clubs across Europe can boast with the fact they haven’t felt the sour taste of defeat this season – AC Milan are among those (along with the likes of Napoli, Liverpool, Porto, Sporting). It will be even sweeter for Inter to be the ones to inflict a first league loss on their rivals.SERIE A – Round 12FridayEmpoli – Genoa 2-2 (0-1)/Di Francesco 62, Zurkowski 71 – Criscito 13 pen, Bianchi 89/SaturdaySpezia – Torino 1-0 (0-0)/Sala 58/Juventus – Fiorentina 1-0 (0-0)/Cuadrado 90+1/Cagliari – Atalanta 1-2 (1-2)/Joao Pedro 27 – Pasalic 6, Zapata 43/SundayVenezia – Roma 3-2 (1-2)/Caldara 3, Aramu 65 pen, Okereke 74 – Shomurodov 43, Abraham 45+2/Sampdoria – Bologna 0-0 IN PROGRESSUdinese – Sassuolo 1-2 IN PROGRESS20.00: (1.33) Lazio (5.90) Salernitana (9.50)20.00: (1.45) Napoli (4.70) Verona (8.00)22.45: (3.15) Milan (3.50) Inter (2.35)***odds are subject to change
