Inter Milan 3 - 1 Palermo: Inter Milan turn up heat on Fiorentina with Palermo victory

Inter Milan are back in the hunt for a top-three finish in Serie A after dominating Palermo to win 3-1 at San Siro.

Goals from Adem Ljajic, Mauro Icardi and Ivan Perisic saw the former league leaders close to within two points of fourth-placed Fiorentina.

Palermo got on the scoresheet through Franco Vazquez but the Sicilians are flirting with relegation as Frosinone can drag them into the drop zone next week.

Inter set about Palermo from the off and had their first goal inside 11 minutes, with Ljajic finding space in the middle before beating Stefano Sorrentino with a dipping drive.

Geoffrey Kondogbia's mistake almost let Ivalyo Chochev equalise but Inter survived and promptly doubled their lead in the 23rd minute.

Icardi saw Rodrigo Palacio racing down the right wing and made sure to slide in front of the covering Giancarlo Gonzalez to flick his cross past Sorrentino.

Palermo notched on the stroke of half-time as Vazquez collected Andrea Rispoli's pass and arrowed the ball under the Inter crossbar.

Wary of a repeat of the second-half slump which has regularly plagued Inter this season, head coach Roberto Mancini clearly warned his players over the break as they came out firing.

In the 54th minute, Perisic met another fine Palacio cross with a diving header that Sorrentino had no chance of saving.

Palermo almost slashed the gap further when Vazquez set up Uros Djurdjevic for a shooting opportunity, but Inter goalkeeper Juan Pablo Carrizo did well to close the Serbian down.