The Nerazzurri have actually been a really difficult team to predict this season as every time you think that they are building a run of form, they drop points in a manner that you did not expect.

One element of them that has been very impressive though has been their record in the big fixtures recently. In the Champions League, they got what they needed in the two big group games against Barcelona to progress into the next round at the Blaugrana’s expense.

In Serie A over the past few months, the Nerazzurri have beaten Atalanta, Napoli and AC Milan whilst also beating Milan in the Supercoppa final. They also lost their last Serie A match surprisingly against Spezia so their mad form suggests that they have to win the next game.

Whilst Juventus will be giving it a real go against Inter as Allegri has loosened up and they have to try and make up ground on those in the top four, that should play into the hands of the Nerazzurri who will pick off the space and have plenty of very dangerous players in the squad.

This Inter team can feel at times that it is just limping towards a place in the top four but these big nights in front of their own fans do tend to bring out a special level of performance from Inzaghi’s side.

Manuel Locatelli is going to find himself with a lot to do on Sunday evening against Inter as he will be at the base of Juventus’ midfield with some very good players trying to run past him.

The likes of Hakan Calhanoglu, Nicolo Barella and Henrikh Mkhitaryan will all try to glide past Locatelli at various times in the game. It is more than plausible that there will be at least a couple of moments during the game where he decides to bring a runner down rather than let them carry on and potentially create a goal or get a shot on target.

Whilst Locatelli is very good on the ball, he is often tasked with doing the dirtier side of the game for his Juventus team and the match against Inter will absolutely be no different.

The former Sassuolo man has made 28 fouls in Serie A so far this season which does not put him at the top of the list for the whole division, but no one else in a Juventus shirt has made more. It is clearly something that he takes upon himself and there will be plenty of opportunities to do it.

Both Alessandro Bastoni and Milan Skriniar like to burst out of the defence and run forward, whilst Inter also have the pacey wingbacks of Denzel Dumfries and Federico Dimarco expected to start, so Locatelli should be running back towards his own goal fairly often.

This is a pick that does not necessarily have history on its side. Starting with the reasons why it may not come off; Lautaro Martinez has only scored one goal in nine Serie A games against Juventus and has a goal average of one every 586 minutes against the Bianconeri: his worst in Serie A against any opponent he has scored at least one goal against, according to Opta.

That may make this seem like a daft pick, but it is also worth bearing in mind that nobody in Serie A has scored more goals than him in 2023 in Serie A, only Napoli’s Victor Osimhen and Juventus’ Adrien Rabiot have got the same amount, which is four.

He is in a good run of form at the moment and these sorts of records such as his against Juventus are there to be broken and are largely anomalous. He will certainly be starting the game and he will be on the pitch likely until the end.

Inter could find a lot of space to run into when Juventus start to push for the goal they really need and it should play into the hands of Martinez. The Argentine is beginning to be linked with a move away from the club once again as the summer draws closer, and he will know that building interest is no bad thing.

With Simone Inzaghi’s future up in the air and the ownership of the club looking as unstable as ever, he may well be keeping the prospect of a move away open in his mind. He needs to end the season strongly to ensure clubs like Manchester United and Barcelona retain their previous interest in him.