Inter winger Ivan Perisic is fully focused on advancing the club’s Serie A revival by beating leaders Juventus in tomorrow’s Derby d’Italia.
The Nerazzurri surrendered top spot to Napoli in early January and took their deposition badly, taking just six points from their next seven games as they tumbled out of the Champions League places.
In the meantime, Juve got to work dislodging Napoli from first place and they now boast a 10-point advantage over Inter, who they must also face in the semi-finals of the Coppa Italia next week.
The Bianconeri won the first leg 3-0 and look set to reach the Rome final barring a surprise result at San Siro.
Perisic hopes Inter can cause the reigning Italian champions heartache in both competitions.
Ahead of the trip to Turin, the Croatia international said: “We’re coming off the back of a difficult month, but we got back to winning ways against Sampdoria (a 3-1 home victory).
“We want to continue in that vein. We’re coming up against Juventus in the league in a very important game, and we’ll give everything to get the victory.
“Three days later, we’ve got the Coppa Italia semi-final second leg. It won’t be easy to overturn the score from the first game but we’ll keep fighting until the last minute.”
Off the field, Inter this week rejected reports that president Erick Thohir is preparing to sell his 70 per cent majority stake in the club.
The Indonesian insists he is merely looking for new investors.
Juve go into tomorrow’s match on the back of a physically demanding Champions League meeting with Bayern Munich, which saw Paulo Dybala and Stefano Sturaro score late goals to force a 2-2 draw.
Napoli can capitalise on any misstep from the leaders by closing the one-point gap with a positive result at third-placed Fio-rentina on Monday night.
Totti’s position
A Roma team missing their disgruntled captain Francesco Totti swept Palermo aside 5-0 last time out and the veteran striker might hope to be welcomed back into the fold for today’s game at Empoli.
After publicly criticising coach Luciano Spalletti, the 39-year-old was dropped and had to watch from the Stadio Olimpico stands as Edin Dzeko and Mohamed Salah proved he is not irreplaceable.
Completing the top six are Milan, who checked Napoli’s progress by holding them to a 1-1 draw earlier this week.
Next up for the Rossoneri – unbeaten in eight matches – are struggling Torino.
Tomorrow sees the fight to avoid relegation intensify as improving Frosinone look to escape the bottom three by dragging Sampdoria into it with victory at the Stadio Luigi Ferraris.
Carpi are five points adrift of 17th-placed Sampdoria and host Atalanta, while basement boys Verona will look to chip away at their seven-point road to safety when they travel up north to Udinese.
Elsewhere, Palermo entertain Bologna, Chievo welcome Genoa to Verona and Lazio, through to the last 16 in Europa League, attempt to replace Sassuolo in seventh place by trumping the overachieving northerners in Rome.
Fixtures
Serie A
Playing Today
Empoli vs Roma18.00
Milan vs Torino20.45
Tomorrow – 15.00
Carpi vs Atalanta
Chievo vs Genoa
Juventus vs Inter 20.45
Palermo vs Bologna 12.30
Sampdoria vs Frosinone
Udinese vs Verona
Monday
Lazio vs Sassuolo 19.00
Fiorentina vs Napoli 21.00
Standings: Juventus 58; Napoli 57; Fiorentina 52; Roma 50; Inter 48; Milan 44; Sassuolo 38; Lazio 37; Bologna, Empoli 34; Torino 32; Chievo 31; Atalanta 29; Genoa 28; Udinese 27; Palermo 26; Sampdoria 25; Frosinone 23; Carpi 20; Verona 18.
Serie B
Played Yesterday
Novara vs Pro Vercelli 1-1
Cesena vs Cagliari 2-0
Today – 15.00
Avellino vs Livorno
Brescia vs Como
Crotone vs Vicenza
Entella vs Perugia
Latina vs Modena
Pescara vs Ascoli
Ternana vs Spezia
Trapani vs Salernitana
Lanciano vs Bari
Monday
Cagliari vs Novara 20.30
Leading standings: Cagliari 61; Crotone 56; Pescara 48; Cesena 46; Novara 43; Bari 41; Entella, Spezia 40.