AC Milan earn the bragging rights of the Milan derby!: Is the Serie A title starting to slip once again for Inter Milan?

AC Milan hand Inter Milan a massive blow in the Serie A title race. (Image credits – Heute; licence details).

The Serie A seemed wrapped up by Inter Milan when they had increased the gap with AC Milan to eleven points. However, the title race is something that rarely stays constant on the graph, and that's what exactly happened. Inter lost the Milan derby 1-0, and suddenly AC Milan are just ten points away from the leaders, while their dominance is starting to look bleak.

The title which seemed wrapped up last week, this Milan derby loss can turn it into a tense few upcoming weeks, as one slip-up could see them fall just like they had last season.

Christian Chivu's side were completely dominant in the league this season, and it looked like they had finally learnt from their mistakes from last season when they messed it all up in the end. While their rivals kept dropping points, Inter continued to rally by dominating games with their superb squad depth and tactical superiority. However, AC Milan has exposed a few patterns from last season which still exist this season. They have struggled to win big games against rivals like Juventus, AC Milan and Napoli.

It felt like they had overcome this problem, but it's started to resurface again, and the gap at the top has also started to shrink. The one-horse race in the Serie A title race has turned into a two-horse race all of a sudden, with almost eight games still left to play.

Since Simeone Inzaghi, Inter Milan has become one of the most tactically sound teams in Europe. Their 3-5-2 formation is structured in a way where the wingbacks stretch the pitch and midfielders and defenders continuously fill the spaces in the middle of the park, controlling the tempo with possession to find and exploit the spaces. Up front the attackers aim to find the space and use their predatory instincts to score goals.

This season, they have dominated against all the mid-table sides in Serie A, suffocating them through dominating possession-based football, pressing them high up the pitch and relentless waves of attacks. They have dominated almost every mid-table side, which their rivals haven't been able to do, which has contributed to most of their points in the table.

However, their approach changes significantly when they face opposition of a slightly better quality or in a big game against big rivals when the stakes are high. In these games, Inter have always been conservative; in some cases, they've sat back after just taking a one-goal lead, which gave the opponents a sense of belief and more dominance in the middle of the park. This has resulted in loss of points in almost many such big games, and it could come back to haunt them in the future if they go on to slip the Serie A title.

In such big games, title-winning teams must be able to assert dominance, but instead Inter haven't done so, and this aspect of them has psychologically given an advantage to their rivals. This loss wasn't a catastrophic loss, but it has exposed a big flaw which seemed to go unnoticed this season.

AC Milan peaking at the right time: Serie A title to be a battle between the noisy neighbours from Milan?

In the Serie A title race, Inter Milan have started to stumble in big games, losing the points cushion they had created, but on the other hand, AC Milan have slowly and steadily crept up the table with consistent performances, bridging the gap with their neighbours to just seven points. For the first half of the season, Massimiliano Allegri’s side were inconsistent, and on top of that, consistent injuries had put them away from the Scudetto. However, in the later half of the season they have regained the momentum again and look unstoppable right now.

The team looks balanced defensively; their pressing structure has improved, and most importantly, their scoring rate has increased, which seemed to be a problem in the first half of the season. The Rossoneri dressing room have finally got the confidence they needed to compete for the Serie A title, peaking at the right time. Winning the Milan derby against the league leaders will give them a huge psychological boost and momentum in the upcoming fixtures as well. In the context of the title race, this victory was more than just a derby win, but also reinstalling their belief and mentality to win the whole thing.

The biggest factor in the title race is that Milan has nothing to lose, which gives them way less pressure than Inter Milan. From now on, with every victory they will gain belief to win the title, while on the other hand, one slip-up from Inter will land them in serious pressure, both mathematically and psychologically. They had bottled up the league title in a similar fashion last season, and their ghosts of the past could come back to haunt them again this season. Milan need to be consistent like they have been and just wait for Inter to fumble again, which will be a huge turning point in the title race this season.

Although Inter remain the title favourites despite the loss, a seven-point gap is still a big gap. However, it has just awakened Inter, who had slept like the rabbit in a race with the tortoise. Milan will continue to creep up the table; if their rivals still do not learn from their mistakes, their fate could very well turn out to be like that rabbit's. The Serie A has become very unpredictable in recent years, as no one would've expected the title race to come alive all of a sudden a few weeks back. However, that's the magic of football, and we could see a similar situation unfold in the English Premier League as well, where Manchester City and Arsenal are battling it out similarly against each other for the throne.