Cristian Chivu was starting to feel the heat in the Inter dugout with his side beaten in their last two Serie A games, and may have treated the visit of Sassuolo with a degree of trepidation after they completed a memorable league double over Inter two seasons ago.
Those concerns were eased when the hosts struck first in the 14th minute, courtesy of Federico Dimarco at the end of a wonderfully crafted move.
Nicolo Barella made a driving run forward and picked out Petar Sucic, who showed superb awareness to lay the ball off for Dimarco to apply a clinical side-footed finish past Arijanet Muric.
Chivu’s side were purring nicely and Hakan Calhanoglu agonisingly sliced his long-range effort over the bar following another fine passage of play, before Marcus Thuram just missed the far post from Denzel Dumfries’ through ball.
It was an opening 45 minutes which went largely according to plan for the hosts, but the counter-attacking threat of the Neroverdi was clear to see, with Armand Lauriente and Domenico Berardi both looking lively.
Inter’s ability to carve open Sassuolo’s defence at will must’ve alarmed Fabio Grosso, and the Neroverdi had Josh Doig to thank for a fine block to thwart Dumfries from deep inside the box.
The visitors still carried a threat down the other end, though, and a blistering counter-attack culminated with Lauriente’s driven effort that was well held by Josep Martinez.
Pio Esposito's ferocious strike then just cleared the crossbar, but it was far from one-way traffic, with Sassuolo always threatening to deliver a sucker punch, and Martinez was forced into a stunning one-handed save to parry over Andrea Pinamonti’s header.
Grosso’s side were very well drilled and remained resolute in their defensive shape, seemingly poised and ready to launch another counter-attack.
Inter thought they had killed off that threat for good in the 81st minute when Carlos Augusto’s shot took a huge deflection before beating Muric, but Sassuolo had other ideas, as Walid Cheddira slotted home from close range to halve the deficit.
The hosts thought they had re-established their two-goal lead when Davide Frattesi converted from close range, but was disallowed for offside.
Ultimately, Inter had done enough to secure all three points, but this performance will do little to appease the doubters after what has been an unconvincing start to the campaign.
Meanwhile, Sassuolo can take plenty of encouragement from this display, despite succumbing to a 12th defeat in their last 15 Serie A away games (D3).
Flashscore Man of the Match: Federico Dimarco (Inter Milan)
