Europa League Preview: Inter v St. Etienne

Walter Mazzarri and the squad turn their attention to Europe, where they face French side, St. Etienne on Thursday evening.

THE VITALS

Date: Thursday, October 23, 2014

Venue: Giuseppe Meazza

Time: 21.05 CET / 3.05 pm ET / 12.05 pm PT

BATTLE DOSSIER

Inter Probable Lineup: Handanovic; Andreolli, Vidic, Juan Jesus; Obi, M'Vila, Hernanes, Kuzmanovic, Dodo, Guarin, Palacio

St. Etienne Probable Lineup: Ruffier, Theopile-Catherine, Perrin, Sall, Tabanou, Clement, Corgnet, Lemoine, Monnet-Paquet, van Wolfswinkel

Unavailable For Duty: You can add Yuto Nagatomo and Gary Medel alongside Danilo D'Ambrosio and Dani Osvaldo.  Nagatomo was deemed unavailable prior to last weekend's match with Napoli and Medel suffered a contusion to his calf earlier Wednesday.

Operation Group Winner: Inter have a chance to put qualification away for the knockout rounds away with a win against their French counterparts.  They currently hold a four point lead in the group stage over second place St. Etienne, so a win would spare any extra effort necessary in the last matches of the group stage.

Fear Factor: 5: St. Etienne may be sitting fifth in Ligue 1, but they have had trouble scoring goals this season.  Add in the Meazza factor, and Inter should put the French side away.

Enemy Of The State: Ricky van Wolfswinkel has the ability to score goals and provide assists for Les Verts.  The Inter defense need to strap the Dutchman down to snuff out any threat.

Medal Of Honor: I'm going to give it to Hernanes, who has worked hard over the last few weeks to make up for his slow start to the season. This past weekend, the Brazilian scored a goal and was a nuisance to the Napoli defense and hopefully he continues upward and onward.

Likely Outcome: St. Etienne should not provide a problem for the Nerazzurri, and the home side should win by a couple goals. 3-1.