Ange-Yoan Bonny was among a handful of changes to Cristian Chivu’s starting line-up, and he looked to quickly repay his manager’s faith by weaving through the Lecce defence and taking aim six minutes in, but his low strike was tipped around the post by an alert Wladimiro Falcone.
The next major opening saw Bonny show his selfless side by teeing up Piotr Zielinski for a clean strike which flew narrowly over the top, before he seemingly won a penalty midway through the first half - following an apparent foul by Danilo Veiga - but the decision was overturned following a lengthy VAR check.
The home side kept pressing for the breakthrough, as another change from the weekend draw with Napoli, Henrikh Mkhitaryan, took aim from the edge of the box following a corner, but his effort sailed a whisker wide.
Another Inter corner in added time saw Marcus Thuram’s tame header easily dealt with by Falcone, who then launched the ball downfield for Riccardo Sottil to chase, and his effort on the half-volley dropping just wide was both the last action before the break and Lecce’s only first-half opportunity.
Inter’s dominance continued in the opening minutes of the second half, but so did their frustrations - Falcone reacted superbly to tip away a Nicolo Barella header from a delicate Carlos Augusto cross, before Barella then fed Andy Diouf arriving from the right wing, only for his effort to fly too close to the goalkeeper.
I Giallorossi continued to thwart the league leaders’ pressure, but needed a slice of fortune in the final 20 minutes when a Pio Esposito header was deflected just wide from a corner.
That forced Chivu to bring on Serie A top scorer Lautaro Martinez, but it was the visitors who nearly took the lead seconds later, as Jamil Siebert latched onto a loose ball inside the Inter box and forced a superb reaction to his deflected shot from Yann Sommer.
However, the Argentinian soon had a hand in I Nerazzurri finally taking the lead 12 minutes from time, as his shot was parried by Falcone into the path of Esposito, who turned in the rebound.
Esposito came close to two in two minutes when a low effort curled inches wide, but one goal was enough in the end for a 12th win in 14 league matches.
Meanwhile, failure to find a later leveller means Eusebio Di Francesco’s side remain the lowest scorers in the division.
Flashscore Man of the Match: Pio Esposito (Inter)