Serie A

In the annals of Italian football, the Serie A title race of this season will be remembered as one of the most electrifying contests in recent history. A narrative that spanned the entire length of Italy, from the misty canals of Venice to the sun-drenched streets of Palermo, this season’s championship was a testament to the unpredictable and compelling nature of Serie A.

Clubs from across the league table defied expectations, delivering a spectacle filled with drama, passion, and the sheer unpredictability that is the hallmark of Italian football.

Do you ever get a sense of snobbery from the big leagues in Europe? The likes of the Premier League and La Liga act as if Serie A is way behind in the prestige stakes, while even Ligue 1 is attempting to look down its nose at the showpiece of Italian football.

The fact is, the Serie A doesn’t get the credit it deserves when the circus that is the Premier League is dominating the airwaves.

When Gian Piero Gasperini was appointed Atalanta coach in June of 2016, he was tasked with one mission: keeping the team safe from relegation to Serie B.

Five years on and it’s safe to say Atalanta fans have very different expectations.

The Serie A is three games into the 2020/21 season and as we head into the international break Atalanta and Milan sit at the top of the table with 9 points from their opening three matches.

Atalanta have been on fire again with 13 goals, and if they carry on at this rate, they might just find themselves scoring more than the 98 goals that they netted last season. Once again there will be a fight to claim the Golden Boot come the end of the season, and below we are going to take a look at the main contenders.

When you look at Europe’s top football leagues, it’s very rare to find a team that’s continually crowned as champions year after year.

Sure, a team may achieve back-to-back titles, even three or four in some cases, yet over in Italy, Juventus are currently gunning for their ninth consecutive Serie A title this season – an incredible feat and testament to their sheer domestic dominance over the past decade.

Already on their second manager of the current season, after Julio Velázquez was replaced by Davide Nicola in mid-November, little seems to have improved at struggling Udinese.

Two wins apiece are all either manager has been able to achieve, during their respective tenures and much to the frustration of long-suffering fans.

While a lot of football fans will decide to focus their betting activity to making a football accumulator, many will fail to see the value in betting on the Italian Serie A.

It’s a missed opportunity when considering the excitement and drama which often occurs in Italy every weekend, and some fans would even go as far as saying that it’s the very best league for sourcing a handful of teams for your accumulator tips.

With just three games to go in the Serie A season, Juventus look on course to lift yet another title and have a four-point lead going into the final games. With two winnable home fixtures, their trip to Roma may not count and the title really is theirs to lose based on what is left to come for them. Napoli have tried and pushed them hard, but unless we see a big shock in Italy, the 2018 Serie A title will be heading to Juventus.

Napoli had hopes of a title win just a couple of weeks ago, thanks to a dramatic 1-0 victory against Juventus. Napoli knew a win that day would put them back in the running, but left it until the last minute to score the vital winner. However, they were unable to build on that and lost their next game against Fiorentina, giving Juventus the advantage back. A big victory for the Old Lady over Inter Milan restored their four-point lead at the top of Serie A, and that is how we stand now with three league games to go.

If the summer transfer window was a recent barometer of trust, then when the winter version opens in January, huge fees will be spent in fits of panic by clubs desperate for immediate success.

It is plainly obvious that Barcelona for example, have vast sums of money to spend following Neymar's decision to swap Catalonia for Paris for a world record transfer fee.

The following figures that Barcelona then paid for Ousmane Dembele from Borussia Dortmund and the reputed fees banded around in the media suggesting what the Catalan outfit were prepared to pay for the recruitment of Liverpool's Phillipe Coutinho, ultimately turned into acts of desperation.

The 2016-17 Serie A campaign is about to come to an end. There are only four more rounds of matches left. Juventus look set to win the Scudetto, while AS Roma and Napoli appear set to take the fight for the runners-up spot down to the wire.

Lazio and Atalanta, this season’s surprise package, are going to battle for the fourth spot. Pescara have already been relegated to Serie B, with Genoa, Empoli, Crotone and Palermo all aiming to avoid the dreaded drop to the Italian second division.

Serie A is blessed with some world-class players and some hugely talented youngsters. Below we look at the three best footballers in the Italian top flight this season and then we choose our Serie A Player of the 2016-17 Season.