European Football Preview: Inter is coming

Are Inter for real?

One of Inter's major advantages this year is their absence from European competition. It gives coach Luciano Spalletti extra time to fine-tune the team on the training ground and game-plan thoroughly for their opponent on the weekend. It also allows the players to rest and recover, and establish better understanding.

Whether it will be enough to close the gap between them and Napoli on Saturday remains to be seen. Napoli have made a perfect start to the season in Serie A. They went to the capital and won. Not once but twice. First against Lazio. Then against Roma. And Tuesday's 2-1 defeat to Manchester City did not pop the blue balloon, nor dampen enthusiasm around the club. Paradoxically Napoli's second half display at the Etihad only served to make them even more confident in their own ability.

Having said that, an Inter win at the San Paolo is not beyond the realm of possibility. Sarri has complained about the fixture scheduling with games against Roma and Inter coming either side of the City games. Lorenzo Insigne looks unlikely to be fit enough to start on Saturday and Inter aren't exactly low on confidence either.

This is their best start in 15 years and Sunday's 3-2 win in the Milan derby was another big game Inter took maximum points from to add to those against Fiorentina and Roma. The Nerazzurri were the first team to end Maurizio Sarri's unbeaten start to life at the San Paolo and Spalletti won here with Roma last season too.

With Mauro Icardi in merciless form up top for Inter, the threat is real. Inter will still have to excel themselves and hope Napoli are off colour to pull off an upset. Inter are 5.50 to winand 2.44 on Double Chance.

Le Classique

The rivalry between Marseille and PSG has lost none of its passion. It remains France's fiercest, along with Lyon-Saint Etienne. But the game's appeal is not what it once was. It's almost six years since Marseille last got the better of PSG, which is no coincidence because that was also the Qataris first season as owners.

The wealth gap is now so big, Marseille's only hope is to be greater than the sum of their parts, something Marcelo Bielsa achieved for six months before the team regressed to the mean and burned out. Last season PSG won 5-1 at the Velodrome and the project at Marseille is under scrutiny. OM had the second biggest net spend in Ligue 1 over the summer but failed to land glamour targets like Olivier Giroud and Mario Mandzukic.

Their best chance of competing is to develop homegrown talent with the success of Lyon and Monaco or do what their former player and ex-Wolfsburg sporting director Klaus Allofs did with the Wolves and find a Kevin de Bruyne for a couple of years. More was expected of Dimitri Payet, particularly after his first year at West Ham and performances at the European Championship. Currently fourth, it could of course be worse for Marseille. But they expected better.

A Jekyll and Hyde team, Marseille can beat Nice 4-2 and lose 6-1 to Monaco. Only five teams have a worse defence than OM and that must be a concern with Neymar, Kylian Mbappe and Edinson Cavani preparing to pay a visit to the Old Port. If you fancy a repeat of last year, Any Other Away Win is trading @ 2.82.

Deflated Dortmund

The last week has been a reality check for Dortmund after losing at home to RB Leipzig and drawing away to APOEL in the Champions League. All of a sudden, confidence in their ability to win something under new manager Peter Bosz has been knocked.

The return of Jupp Heynckes at Bayern feels like a game-changer in the Bundesliga. A 5-0 against Freiburg last weekend felt ominous, not least because the German champions immediately recovered ground on Dortmund, closing the gap at the top to just two points. Dortmund's performance in Cyprus on Tuesday also planted seeds of doubt.

Goalkeeper Roman Burki made a terrible mistake to gift APOEL the lead and it makes you wonder if the black and yellows can reclaim the Meisterschale with such an accident prone No.1 between the sticks. Dortmund have a big decision to make in the summer when Burki's back-up, the veteran Roman Weidenfeller's contract expires. Do they bring in a No.2 or upgrade their No.1 and tell Burki he is no longer first choice. Also complicating matters for Dortmund is a mounting injury list.

Eintracht Frankfurt are unlikely to be in forgiving mood on Saturday afternoon. A revelation this season, no one expected the Eagles to be as high as seventh after all the upheaval in the summer. The Commerzbank Arena has established a reputation as something of a bogey ground for Dortmund over recent years. Frankfurt have beaten them here in each of the last three seasons. Find them on Double Chance @ 2.28.