After a February which has slowed their title charge, Inter Milan will be keen to get their stuttering Serie A campaign back on course at Genoa on Friday as they look to stop losing more ground on rivals AC Milan and Napoli.
The champions had won 16 out of 22 league games before February but only picked up one point from three matches this month, leaving them two points adrift of Milan and level with Napoli on 54 points. They do, however, have a game in hand on both sides.
And while they could be excused for losing to AC Milan and drawing with Napoli, a 2-0 home defeat to mid-table Sassuolo suggested a deeper problem among Simone Inzaghi's side, who also lost 2-0 at home to Liverpool in the Champions League last week.
Inzaghi declared he was "very angry" after the reverse to Sassuolo, saying the players had not heeded his pre-game warnings about the threat the visitors posed.
There could also be a risk of complacency when Inter visit Genoa, who are second-bottom of Serie A having won only once all season.
Inter are set to be boosted by the return of Germany fullback Robin Gosens, who signed on loan from Atalanta in January but has yet to make his debut after injuring his thigh in September.
Italy's title race is the tightest in all of Europe's top five leagues and Inter were not alone in stumbling against seemingly weaker opposition.
Milan were held to a 2-2 draw by bottom side Salernitana, only averting an embarrassing defeat thanks to a 77th-minute strike from Ante Rebic.
Napoli then had the chance to go top when they visited relegation-fighting Cagliari but they only salvaged a 1-1 draw with an even later equaliser, Victor Osimhen popping up in the 87th-minute to rescue a point.
Milan host 16th-place Udinese on Friday while Napoli face ostensibly the toughest game of the three title chasers, visiting sixth-placed Lazio on Sunday.
