The 2021-22 Italian Serie A campaign is under way, with Lazio, Inter, Roma, Milan and Napoli the sides who enjoyed back-to-back wins at the beginning of the season, with the bookies shaping their betting odds on the outright market and there could be as many as six teams challenging for the Scudetto according to the latest prices.
There is no clear favourite when it comes to being crowned champions of Italy, with the majority of bookmakers having Juventus as the favourites to regain their title despite the fact that Cristiano Ronaldo decided to walk away from the Turin club, with the Old Lady now being managed by the legendary Max Allegri.
Allegri has previously won five Scudettos with Juve and it was no surprise that the club rehired someone who also won the Serie A title with Milan during the 2010-11 campaign, although a 2-2 draw away to Udinese was followed by a home reverse against Empoli and Allegri will be relieved if his returning international players are injury-free.
Internazionale are the reigning champions and perhaps they are not a spent force despite Antonio Conte no longer pulling the strings, with Simone Inzaghi having defected from Lazio to take charge at the San Siro and he needs to contend without the departed star striker Romelu Lukaku who had to be sold for financial reasons.
Despite Lukaku having departed, the bottom line is that Inter have pilfered seven goals in the space of two matches, with Joaquin Correa someone who worked with Inzaghi at Lazio and he was at the double when scoring a brace at Verona and there was also a scoring appearance for Argentina against Venezuela in World Cup qualifying.
Atalanta have been knocking on the door in recent seasons and perhaps this is the campaign where La Dea cast off the bridesmaid tag, with the bookies making them third favourites to be crowned champions of Italy and they don't need a massive improvement on the previous season to clamber above their title rivals and secure top spot.
Although Atalanta were thirteen points behind Internazionale last season, the flip argument is that they finished above Juventus and they scored a wonderful ninety goals which made them the top-scoring side in the division and there's every reason to expect the team to adopt a similarly-attacking approach this term.
Roma are under the guide of Jose Mourinho and this is someone who has an excellent reputation in Italy, having worked wonders with Internazionale to win silverware even if this happened over ten years ago. Mourinho has arrived with the intention of rebuilding his reputation in a country where he feels comfortable and there have already been some eye-catching performances from Lorenzo Pellegrini, while new signing Tammy Abraham is off the mark.
Italian football has been dominated recently by Juventus, the club from Turin having won Serie A in each of the last two seasons under the guidance of manager Antonio Conte. But can he and Juve make it three Serie A titles in a row? Read on for the latest betting odds, tips and analysis as we give our thoughts on which team will win Serie A this season.
As would be expected of the team who have won the title for the last two seasons and that which is the most successful team in the history of Italian football, Juventus are the favourites to land another Scudetto. They are priced at betting odds of just 10/11 with Bet365 after winning nine, losing one (at Fiorentina) and drawing one (away to Inter Milan) from their first 11 matches. They have already beaten AC Milan and Lazio at home and with Carlos Tevez and Mirko Vučinić providing a formidable attacking duo, they might well be worth backing at those odds before they get any shorter.
Having said that, it is Roma - under the stewardship of French manager Rudi Garcia - who had a fantastic 100% winning record from their first 10 matches before having to settle for a 1-1 draw at Torino. They beat Rome rivals Lazio 2-0 and also won 3-0 at Inter Milan and if they keep this pace up they will make their current odds of 11/5 with Paddy Power look very generous. It would be a big ask for the side who has not finished better than 6th in Serie A since coming second to Inter Milan in the 2009-10 season, and therefore we will looking elsewhere.
The team who finished second behind Juve last season - Napoli - could be in with a decent shout this time around. The appointment of former Inter Milan, Liverpool and Chelsea boss Rafael Benitez as their manager along with the acquisition of Argentine striker Gonzalo Higuain from Real Madrid could give them the impetus they need to go one better than last season.
They have matched Juve's league record this season from their first 11 games with nine wins, a defeat and a draw, and despite losing to Arsenal in the Champions League, they beat last year's losing finalists Borussia Dortmund and look in fine fettle. Backing them at decent odds of 4/1 with Bet365 to win this season's Serie A could well prove a shrewd move though the match against Juve on 10th November could be crucial.