After almost two months, the Serie A is finally back in action. Italian soccer stopped on November 13 before the beginning of the 2022 World Cup and resumes this week with an intense day of soccer on Wednesday, Jan. 4 with all the twenty teams playing. Napoli are currently the leaders of the table and dominated the first part of the season, Serie A title holders AC Milan are currently trailing Luciano Spalletti's team by points, while Juventus are third. However, an awaited match between Inter Milan and Napoli this Wednesday will give us an immediate crucial clash that can give either team a huge boost. Here's a reminder of what happened so far this season and what we can expect moving forward.
1. Can Napoli win the Scudetto?
Napoli fans have been waiting since the season 1989-1990 to see their beloved team win another Scudetto. In fact, Napoli failed to win the Italian league since Diego Armando Maradona was the star of the team and the city. They were close to reaching their dream, especially under Maurizio Sarri during the season 2017-2018 but then lost to Juventus despite recording 91 points in 38 matches, only four behind the Bianconeri. Napoli changed many things in the past years, but despite some big names leaving the club in the summer it immediately became clear that something changed this season. Former captain Lorenzo Insigne joined Toronto FC last summer, and with him Dries Mertens and Kalidou Koulibaly also left the club. Coach Luciano Spalletti was able to keep a nice atmosphere inside and outside the dressing room and new players arrived. The star of the team now is Georgian talent Khvicha Kvaratskhelia who already scored 13 goals in all competitions and also provided 13 assists. Napoli managed to win 13 games and only drew two so far and are also the only Serie A side that are still undefeated.
The feeling is that Napoli are living a dream this season, but in soccer things can change quickly. Despite having eight points more than AC Milan, the World Cup break might have an influence on their title race. The Azzurri only had five players at the Qatar World Cup and none of them reached the final games of the competition. For this reason, it might be a good thing overall for coach Spalletti from a physical point of view but in this case, it's more likely that the psychological aspect will have a much bigger impact on the league. Napoli had the momentum before the break and won eleven games in a row, and the main question is if the break will have an influence or not in the upcoming games. Luckily, we won't have to wait a lot to know the answer considering Napoli will Inter Milan away on Wednesday in what it's going to be a deciding game for the Scudetto race. If Napoli are able to keep their form, there is no question that they are the leading candidate to win it.
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2. Who will be Napoli's rival?
If Napoli are definitely going to be the frontrunner to win the Scudetto this season, it's less clear who will challenge them until the very end of the season. Up to now, there were multiple changes in the top four positions of the Serie A table, but AC Milan were the most consistent side and confirmed the good results that led them to win their first Scudetto in eleven years the past season. However, the Rossoneri are still eight points behind Napoli and need to improve their results if they want to take advantage in case Spalletti's team lose some points on the way. Juventus had a difficult start, but Massimiliano Allegri was able to keep his team on track and are now third, only two points behind AC Milan.
Simone Inzaghi's Inter Milan are definitely the most disappointing side so far and had some difficult games in the first part of the Serie A season and conceded too many goals (22 in 15 matches, more than any other side of the top 10). The Nerazzurri won ten games and already lost five and are the only Serie A side that still didn't draw a single match. With the comeback of Romelu Lukaku, who was basically never available in the first part of the year due to injuries, and World Champion Lautaro Martinez leading the team, we have to expect much more from Inter Milan in the second part of the 2022-23 season.
3. The Champions League's race
This is often the most exciting race of the league with multiple clubs involved. This season it won't be different and as of now, there are at least seven teams in contention for the top four spots of the table. Considering that Napoli should be fine with an 11-point advantage on fourth place, there are only three spots for six teams. AC Milan (33), Juventus (31) and Lazio (30) are now completing the top four, but Inter Milan (30), Atalanta (27) and AS Roma (27) are also fully in the race. Jose Mourinho's team in 2022 won the first edition of the UEFA Conference League that saved the past season. But they need to improve their performances in the domestic league and they will try to do it with the help of World Cup winner Paulo Dybala, who joined the club last summer after his contract with Juventus expired. This is going to be a very open race with many clubs involved and usually, it goes on until the last matchday of the season. Will it be the same this season?
4. A quiet transfer window
As it often happens, we shouldn't expect a busy transfer window this winter especially because the top Italian clubs won't touch their rosters for different reasons. Napoli's target is to keep the current roster unchanged and want to keep their key players. AC Milan signed goalkeeper Devis Vazquez after the injury of Mike Maignan to give to coach Stefano Pioli more options to replace the starting goalkeeper. After that, the Rossoneri shouldn't do much more this January. Lazio and AS Roma are not expected to make any big signing due to financial reasons, and same for Inter Milan who also have to deal with the contract renewal of key player Milan Skriniar. The center back has his deal expiring in the summer and talks over a new agreement are not advancing so far, and the club is now facing the risk of losing him as a free agent in the summer of 2023 after refusing to sell him last summer to Paris Saint-Germain.
Juventus won't touch their roster at least until Jan. 18 when a new club board will be formed. In November the whole board including President Andrea Agnelli and vice-president Pavel Nedved stepped down after Juventus' recent financial statements went under scrutiny by prosecutors and Italian market regulator CONSOB in the past months for alleged false accounting and market manipulation. The club acknowledged the so-called "salary maneuvers" from the 2019-20 and 2020-21 fiscal years, adding that "the complexity of such profiles on valuation elements may be subject to different interpretations."
5. The relegation battle
Like the Champions League's race, the relegation battle is often the most intriguing race of the league. Last season, Salernitana, after an incredible comeback, avoid relegation in the very last game of the season and this year they had a much better start and are outside the relegation zone so far. As things stand Hellas Verona are at the bottom of the league with only five points scored after 15 matches (one win, two draws). Sampdoria (six) and Cremonese (seven) are the more likely to go down at the end of the season. Cremonese are six points behind Spezia but we can expect some changes in these positions in the coming weeks. Cremonese are the only promoted side that are currently in the relegation zone, while Lecce (15) and AC Monza (16) are safe as of now.
