Following Atalanta’s loss to Fiorentina earlier in the afternoon, the onus was on Inter to capitalise with a widely-expected victory - one that would also apply the pressure on second-placed Napoli ahead of their later duel with AC Milan.
And Simone Inzaghi’s men did exactly that, taking the lead inside the opening quarter-hour.
A neat spell of possession culminated with Federico Dimarco running down the left flank before his reverse ball to the centre of the 18-yard box was swept home by Marko Arnautovic.
Udinese struggled to make their mark in the contest and were passengers for much of the first half.
The Nerazzurri took full advantage of this and doubled their lead just before the half-hour mark, when Dimarco was released down the left once, and this time his cross into the danger area was prodded home by Davide Frattesi.
With Inter duly going into the break 2-0 up, Udinese faced a near-impossible task on paper, especially in the context of the Nerazzurri losing just once when leading a league game at half-time since the start of 2023/24 (W31, D6).
Following the restart, both coaches made a host of changes, but Inter coasted through large parts of the second half.
However, the game sprung to life in the 71st minute when Oumar Solet drifted towards goal and buried a brilliant effort from distance.
All of a sudden, Inzaghi’s side found themselves almost clinging on for the final quarter hour. However, that comeback never materialised for the Bianconeri, with a host of stoppages kerbing the momentum for the visitors.
Inzaghi was shown a red card late on for protesting at the referee, but it had no effect on the contest. After seeing out the final moments, Inter claimed a fifth straight victory in all competitions and a sixth consecutive win over their opponents.
Meanwhile, Udinese fell to a second defeat in three games, though Kosta Runjaic’s men remain comfortably in 10th place with no threat of relegation, even if their hopes of a push for Europe have long since died.
Flashscore Man of the Match: Federico Dimarco (Inter)