Inter strengthened their grip on third place in Serie A with an important yet unconvincing 3-1 win over lowly Frosinone on Sunday evening.

Inter started well and took a deserved lead after 18 minutes. Danilo D’Ambrosio whipped in a dangerous cross on to the head of Radja Nainggolan, who directed the ball into the far corner with impressive accuracy.

The visitors doubled their lead 15 minutes later, as Ivan Perisic converted from the penalty spot after Raman Chibsah brought down Milan Skriniar in the box.

Inter looked to be going through the motions in the second-half and their lacklustre approach cost them a goal as Frosinone pulled one back on the hour mark through Francesco Cassata, whose strike from distance had just enough power to get past Samir Handanovic.

Frosinone pushed to find an equaliser, but they were left undone in the final moments as Matias Vecino scored a third goal for Inter in added time.

INTER

Key Talking Point​

​Inter have been unable to maintain any sort of consistency this season, but they are still in a fantastic position to secure Champions League football, which would have been the minimum requirement at the start of 2018/19.

The scoreline may suggest otherwise, but the win was by no means convincing for the Nerazzurri. They were slow in possession, notably lacked finesse in the final third and were far too complacent after going two goals to the good. A win’s a win, but Inter certainly made hard work of it.

Luciano Spalletti’s side have built a six point advantage over Roma in fifth position, which looks to be enough at this late stage of the season, but that gap will soon decrease if they don’t improve on their performance.

Player Ratings

Starting XI: Handanovic (5); D’Ambrosio (6*), Skriniar (6), De Vrij (6), Asamoah (5); Vecino (5), Valero (5), Politano (5), Perisic (6), Nainggolan (6); Icardi (4).

Substitutes: Balde (5), Gagliardini (5), Joao Mario (N/A).

Star Man – Danilo D’Ambrosio

It wasn’t a particularly memorable performance from D’Ambrosio, but he put in a decent shift down the right flank and produced the most telling moment of quality in the match when he delivered a superb cross for Nainggolan’s opening goal.

The Italian has been able to keep Cedric Soares out of the side after the Portuguese joined the club in January and performances like this should ensure that he’ll remain in the starting XI until the end of the season.