Inter Milan vs Sassuolo preview - Inter seek new February fortunes

Posted Saturday, February 08, 2014 by PA

Inter Milan coach Walter Mazzarri is glad to see the back of January after his side suffered a miserable first month of the year.

The Nerazzurri, who host Sassuolo on Sunday, remain winless in 2014 and have won just one of their last 10 league games.

Their first game of February also ended in defeat, a 3-1 loss at Juventus, that dropped the club to sixth in the table, 11 points behind third-placed Napoli, who hold the last Champions League qualifying spot.

"Results are not going our way and we have suffered greatly," Mazzarri said. "As I said in the past, this is a year of growth and evaluation.

"We will evaluate things at the end of the campaign. Right now we just need a victory to turn things around, that is all."

Mazzarri is expected to hand Brazilian midfielder Hernanes his Inter debut this weekend.

Hernanes joined Inter from Lazio last Friday and has signed a contract with the Nerazzurri outfit until June 2018.

"This is the right club for me," Hernanes said. "I have joined Inter to win titles.

"I am ambitious and Inter's project convinced me."

Inter will be without injured midfielder Esteban Cambiasso while Ricky Alvarez will play in support of striker Rodrigo Palacio, who has not scored for Inter since December 22.

Sassuolo travel to the San Siro on the back of a 2-1 defeat to Hellas Verona.

The outcome was Sassuolo's seventh loss in eight league games and was Alberto Malesani's first since replacing Eusebio Di Francesco at the helm.

The defeat dropped them to second from bottom, one point adrift of safety.

"I certainly believe we can defend our Serie A status," Malesani said. "But in order to do so, we will have to play much better than we did against Hellas.

"We all believe it's possible to avoid the drop as there is a small gap between the relegation zone and the safety positions."

Sassuolo have not won on the road since beating Sampdoria 4-3 in Genoa on November 3.

They have collected two points since away from home.

The visitors will be without Portuguese midfielder Teodosio Mendes, who serves a one-match ban.