Football Tips: Inter to ease past Getafe in Wednesday's Europa League tie

Inter Milan and Getafe travel to Schalke’s VELTINS-Arena in the strangest of all seasons to play their one-off Europa League last 16 tie on Wednesday at 20:00 with Rangers or Bayer Leverkusen waiting in the quarter-finals. The rule book has long been ripped into a thousand pieces and thrown into the air. But, while much has changed, some things stay the same.

Antonio Conte is at war with his own club and owners again and huge doubts hang over his long-term future in Milan. That certainly rings a bell, doesn’t it? But, while it felt like Conte threw the towel in at Chelsea when raging against the machine, it seems to have galvanised his Inter side this time around.

Most Serie A challengers fell about themselves to make it as easy as possible for Juventus to win the league, though even the Old Lady didn’t look like she wanted to actually win the thing. However, Inter charged up the table, winning five of their last eight league games and drawing the other three to finish one point behind the eventual champions. They’ve only lost once in their 14 games since the restart.

Getafe, on the other hand, had a woeful time in La Liga. They haven’t won in six, losing four and drawing two, scoring just one goal in the process. In the last six they’ve picked up four red cards which is double the amount of points they’ve won. In fact, they’ve had just one victory in 11 games since the resumption. That’s woeful form to be heading into a Continental knockout clash.

Inter and Under 2.5 goals

Inter have been winning well while keeping it tight at the back. In their last four games they’ve kept a clean sheet every time they’ve stepped on the field, conceding just three in their last seven games.

Getafe don’t score but they don’t concede too many either, especially when you factor that in with their appalling form of late. They’ve conceded seven in their last six with five of those coming in two games. However, they’ve found the net just once in their last six games.

With all that in mind we’re thinking it will be a comfortable win for Inter but Getafe don’t throw in the towel, in terms of defending at least, so we’re not expecting a hammering. There’s been under 2.5 goals in three of Inter’s last four matches.

For Getafe it’s happened in five of their last six, a run which included games against Real Madrid and Atletico Madrid. We’re not expecting bags of goals but Inter and Under 2.5 is the best value based on the above.

Inter to Win; Inter Most Corners & Getafe Most Cards

There’s always value in the WhatOddsPaddy market and Inter to Win; Inter Most Corners & Getafe Most Cards looks most appealing here if this goes as expected. Plenty of Inter pressure will inevitably lead to corners and the fouls mounting up for Getafe who do love a card, especially the red ones. Inter to Win; Inter Most Corners & Getafe Most Cards looks the one here.

Romelu Lukaku to score first

In what may be an attritional affair with the Spanish side looking to build from a platform of defensive solidarity, it might be a moment of genius in the box that gets this over the line for Conte’s crew. Romelu Lukaku certainly knows his way around the penalty area and we’re expecting him to be that little bit sharper than Lautaro Martinez who is fit but has just returned from injury so we’re backing Romelu Lukaku to score first.