Serie A showdown between Inter and Milan could be the highlight of a super sporting Saturday

The good ship sport has made it through the doldrums of another international break and a glorious Saturday of action is on the horizon.

All tastes and kinks are catered for, with a couple of televised Premier League matches, five intriguing 3pm top-flight fixtures, the St Leger, the Rugby World Cup, qualifying for the Singapore Grand Prix, and the BMW PGA Championship golf at Wentworth.

Leicestershire face Hampshire in the One-Day Cup final at Trent Bridge and, presumably, there is some colossal YouTube boxing event featuring Jadon Sancho versus Erik ten Hag, Harry Maguire and Gareth Southgate versus their critics, and Luton manager Rob Edwards versus Garth Crooks on the undercard.

In case you missed it, BBC pundit Crooks has upset Edwards – and, indeed, the whole of Luton – by declaring: "I can't take them seriously and see them down by Christmas."

Once you've figured out the mathematical veracity of Garth's relegation prediction, it'll be time for arguably the most attractive sporting event of the day: Inter's 5pm Serie A clash with Milan at San Siro.

The latest Derby della Madonnina is set up beautifully as the Milan rivals both won their first three league matches before the international break.

Milan veteran Olivier Giroud has scored four goals, three of them penalties, in his first three appearances of 2023-24 and Christian Pulisic, who notched once for Chelsea in last season's Premier League, found the net in his first two games for the Rossoneri.

Inter's new captain Lautaro Martinez is also in blistering form, to the delight of punters (by which I mean me) who backed him for the Golden Boot at last year's World Cup.

Almost everything went right for that bet as Martinez started the tournament up front for the team who went on to lift the trophy. Sadly, though, his tally of zero goals from 14 shots, ten of them off target, meant he was pipped to the Boot by eight-goal Kylian Mbappe.

Martinez is back with a bang at club level, scoring five times in Inter's three wins to nil over Monza, Cagliari and Fiorentina.

The Serie A title betting suggests there is not much between 15-8 Inter and 3-1 Milan, who won the first league derby of last season 3-2.

After that, though, Inter racked up four straight victories to nil against their local rivals, winning the Italian Super Cup, the reverse fixture in Serie A, and both legs of their Champions League semi-final before losing 1-0 to Manchester City in Istanbul.

Goalkeeper Andre Onana, central midfielder Marcelo Brozovic and striker Edin Dzeko, who all started for Inter in the Champions League final, left in the summer.

Despite those departures, coach Simone Inzaghi cannot use inexperience as an excuse this season after the arrivals of Alexis Sanchez, Marko Arnautovic and Yann Sommer, who are all aged 34, as well as 35-year-old Juan Cuadrado.

While Sunderland's starting 11 in this season's Championship has an average age of 23, Inter's recruitment team are taking a different approach and another 35-year-old, centre-back Francesco Acerbi, made his loan move from Lazio permanent this summer.

Inter forward Marcus Thuram and Milan midfielder Ruben Loftus-Cheek have made eyecatching starts at their new clubs although Loftus-Cheek's fellow Chelsea graduate Fikayo Tomori is suspended for the Rossoneri.

That could be a smart career move for Tomori, who was an unused substitute in England's Euro 2024 qualifier against Ukraine and friendly in Scotland. 

Because, as we all know, not playing for your club is the quality that Three Lions boss Southgate most admires in a centre-back.

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