Chievo v Inter: Mancini calls for caution despite perfect start

Roberto Mancini has refused to get carried away with Inter’s unbeaten start to the Serie A campaign and warned his men to do the same ahead of Sunday’s clash with Chievo.

After a disappointing 2014-15 season that saw Inter finish eighth in the league, Mancini’s new-look side have made a promising start with a 100 per cent record from their opening three games.

Last weekend’s 1-0 derby win over Milan ensured they sit two points clear at the top of the table, with an eight-point cushion over defending champions Juventus already.

However, Mancini has cooled talk of a Scudetto challenge ahead of what he expects to be a tough challenge against early-season surprise packages Chievo, who are second.

“Winning a derby is never easy and for us it was a complex and difficult game,” Mancini told Corriere dello Sport.

“Clearly now we are very happy, but I don’t believe that the euphoria that everyone has can be a danger because we know well that Chievo will not let us win.

“They are in great form, they’ve started the season well and are always difficult to deal with. That’s why we have to be very alert.

“We are on the right track, but to build a team takes time and we must continue to work well. The mentality doesn’t change in a day, but after months and months of work.”

Chievo are Inter’s nearest rivals heading in to the next round of fixtures after an impressive start to their season that has seen victory over Lazio and a share of the spoils with Juve.

It is a surprise upturn in form for Rolando Maran’s side after they only won one of their final eight games in 2014-15, seeing them finish in 14th place, nine points clear of the bottom three.

Valter Birsa has been integral to their change of fortunes after being transformed from a winger to trequartista by Maran, the Slovenia international already netting twice this season.

Clashes with Inter have not brought much joy for Chievo, though, with only four wins from their 26 meetings and they have failed to score in six of the last nine of those.