serie a returns to action this weekend and there have been some huge transfers over the summer, so fans will be eagerly anticipating the new season. the biggest transfer was of course a departure, with paul pogba leaving juventus to return to manchester united for £89m. however, there have been some huge players coming into, and moving within, serie a too and the year ahead looks hugely exciting.
juventus have won the last five serie a titles in succession and no side has ever claimed six scudetti in a row. can juve make history and win an amazing 33rd italian top flight championship?
the champions start the 2016-17 campaign at home to fiorentina and that’s just one of the four huge serie a games we’re previewing this week. we’ll be offering up tips, odds, predictions and analysis for roma v udinese, milan v torino and pescara v napoli too, so read on for the highlights of the opening round from serie a.
roma v udinese
the new italian season gets underway on saturday afternoon as
udinese travel to rome to take on roma. these two finished third and 17th respectively last term and so it’s no surprise at all that the home side are big favourites here.
you can back luciano spalletti’s men at best odds of just 4/9 (coral) whilst the visitors are available at a massive 8/1 with betvictor and the draw is 19/5 with sportingbet.
roma lost classy bosnian midfielder miralem pjanic to rivals juve in the summer but have signed well too, adding gerson, mo salah and milan’s stephan el shaarawy among others.
last season roma did the double over their opponents here and we think they are good for the win again. spalletti’s side were the top scorers in serie a last term but also conceded a lot and we think that pattern will play out again this term, starting here. as such we predict plenty of goals and our betting tip is roma to win combined with both teams to score at juicy odds of 5/2 with a number of bookies.
juventus v fiorentina
roma v udinese was a fine way to start the new season but this clash is the one that neutrals will be really looking forward to. as mentioned,
juve won the title last term, whilst the florence outfit finished a creditable fifth. the home side will be looking to show there is life after pogba and having started appallingly last term following a number of big summer departures they will be desperate to avoid making the same mistake.
the old lady are priced at odds of just 1/2 with william hill but that looks reasonable value. they won the corresponding fixture last term 3-1 (also beating fiorentina 2-1 away) and that was one 16 home serie a wins.
if you fancy an upset the draw is available at best betting odds of 16/5 with bet365 whilst an even bigger upset would be an away win, offered at 8/1 by betvictor.
as mentioned, juve signed pjanic from roma but their biggest signing was gonzalo higuain from napoli for more than £75m. the argentine scored a sensational 36 league goals last term, winning the capocannoniere title in the process and breaking a 66-year-old record too.
there have been reports he arrived at the club out of shape but with a great supply line coming from juve’s classy midfield he won’t struggle for goals in turin. we think the home side will just prove too good here and so our prediction and betting tip is for higuain and co to win -1.5 goals at nice odds.
milan v torino
turin’s second side are in action at the san siro as they
face an ac milan side looking to improve on their seventh place finish from last season. torino were some 12 points and five places beneath their more illustrious hosts and this should be another relatively comfortable home win.
the rossonerri are priced at best odds of 17/20 with a range of firms and that looks a very solid bet to us. torino, who have made a net gain on their summer transfer dealings, can be backed at odds of 19/5 with betvictor, with the draw priced up at 5/2.
milan have been in the doldrums for too long now and their fans are desperate for success, or at the very least to finish above city rivals inter, who were fourth last term. vincenzo montella is the manager tasked with doing that this season and whilst they have been relatively quiet in the transfer market they should have more than enough to get past torino here.
torino may yet struggle to maintain their serie a status this term and so our betting tip here is a simple one: back milan for the three points.
pescara v napoli
the last serie a clash of the weekend sees
last season’s runners-up travel to newly promoted pescara. pescara came up via the play-offs and few are predicting their stay in serie a will be a long one.
they are big underdogs here, even at home, and our live odds comparison shows they can be backed at tasty odds of 8/1 with unibet and others. even the draw would be a decent result for them and that can be backed at 18/5 whilst napoli are priced at odds of just 4/9 (william hill).
there is no doubt that maurizio sarri’s men will struggle to replace the goals of higuain. young polish striker arkadiusz milik was brought in from ajax but he will take time to settle and there is a chance that the visitors may struggle to break down the massed pescara defence here.
we think they will just about have enough though and their defence is good, so our betting tip here is for napoli to win to nil, with 1-0 a decent shout at odds of 6/1 with ladbrokes.