Serie A Preview: Parma v Inter

Inter head to Parma to face the struggling, 20th place squad of Roberto Donadoni this weekend.

THE VITALS

Date: Saturday, November 1, 2014

Venue: Stadio Ennio Tardini, Parma, Italy

Time: 20.45 CET / 3.45 pm ET / 12.45 pm PT

BATTLE DOSSIER

Parma Probable Lineup (3-5-2): Mirante; Mendes, Felipe, Lucarelli; Acquah, Mauri, Lodi, Gobbi, De Ceglie; Cassano, Palladino

Inter Probable Lineup (3-5-2): Handanovic; Ranocchia, Vidic, Juan Jesus; Mbaye, Kuzmanovic, Medel, Kovacic, Dodo; Palacio, Icardi

Unavailable For Duty: Luckily Hernanes wasn't injured against Sampdoria and will probably be available off the bench.  The good news is no one has been added to the 'unavailable for duty' list, which includes Yann M'Vila, Yuto Nagatomo, Jonathan, Danilo D'Ambrosio, Dani Osvaldo, and Fredy Guarin.

Operation Three: Inter go into this match looking to win their third match in a row and walking away with all three points.

Fear Factor: 2: Parma is bad. Sitting in 20th bad. There should be no real fear.  Except for maybe eating too much Parma ham and Parmgiano Reggiano cheese.

Enemy Of The State: I would be inclined to say Antonio Cassano, but he's not really an enemy, right?

Medal Of Honor: For the first time ever in an Inter shirt, I would like to give this to... drumroll, please... Nemanja Vidic! The Serbian had an outstanding game versus Sampdoria.  He looked confident in his tackling and interceptions, while looking very comfortable in the back three.

Likely Outcome: If Inter don't win this by three (see, there's that number again), that would be disappointing.  If Inter don't get anything but three points, that would be even worse.