Inter Milan vs Empoli Prediction: League leaders should win this comfortably

Serie A league leaders Inter Milan are very comfortable right now at the summit. They are a whopping 14 points clear of bitter rivals AC Milan in second with just nine games left of the season to play. From this stage, it will take a serious lapse in concentration from the Nerrazzurri to deny them the title.

On Monday night (19:45), they welcome Empoli to San Siro, who sit just one point above the dreaded relegation zone. After the international break, Inter should be feeling replenished ahead of one last push to secure their first league crown since 2020-21. Here are our Inter Milan vs Empoli predictions, which feature match odds and team news.

Match Odds

As you can imagine, the hosts are the overwhelming favourites to win this contest at the short price of 1/5, implying an 83.3% chance of victory. Empoli are at the high price of 12/1 to upset the league leaders - which gives them a chance of 7.7% - which is hardly surprising given they've won just six games all season and the opponents they are facing.

A draw can be backed at 6/1, or a 14.3% chance. Both teams to score is valued at 11/10 and over 2.5 goals is 1/2.

Inter's Lautaro Martinez is the leading marksman in Serie A with a haul of 23 goals so far. He is priced at 11/4 to open proceedings at San Siro on Monday night. His fellow striker Marcus Thuram is the joint-sixth top scorer with 10 so far and he is 21/20 to find the back of the net at any time.

Team News

The hosts are expected to be without a few players due to injury for this clash, with Yann Sommer, Marko Arnautovic, Juan Cuadrado and Stefan de Vrij all likely to miss out. Other than that, Simone Inzaghi has most of his squad to call upon and that leaves him with plenty of quality for the visit of Empoli.

The visitors are expected to be without trio Ardian Ismajli, Tyronne Ebuehi and Etrit Berisha for the trip to San Siro.

Lautaro Martinez to score 2+ goals @ 7/2

Seeing as he's the league's top scorer, there isn't much value to be had in backing Martinez to score anytime at 4/6. We're aiming higher here and fancy the Argentina international to score a couple against the Serie A strugglers.

Martinez will be full of confidence returning to league action after scoring from the bench in his country's 3-1 victory over Costa Rica on Wednesday. In keeping up his excellent goalscoring form, he will be primed for more success in front of goal in the final weeks of the season to guarantee his team the Scudetto trophy.

We have already seen the striker score two or more goals on five occasions in Serie A this term, and we fancy him to take that tally to six on Monday.

Over 2.5 Inter Milan goals @ 10/11

This may seem a little harsh on Empoli because despite their league position, their defensive record is nowhere near as bad. They have conceded just 43 goals so far, better than six of the bottom eight sides in the division.

However, they are coming up against the top scorers in Inter, who have amassed a total of 71 so far, and are by no means done racking up goals. Returning to San Siro after the latest international break will have the home crowd fired up as well as the players, and it is going to be a tough afternoon for the visitors, who have lost three games on the spin.