The top two Serie A sides Napoli and Inter Milan, winners of the last two editions, are separated by one point after the last round of games and will meet this weekend to decide who takes the top spot.
Inter trimmed the gap to the leaders when they beat Venezia 1-0 on Sunday after Napoli were shocked in a 3-0 home defeat by Champions League side Atalanta earlier that day.
That hints at an exciting clash at San Siro on Sunday as the second-best scoring side welcome the league’s second-best defence.
Last weekend’s defeat was a bitter pill for Napoli coach Antonio Conte, who lost a Serie A home game as a manager by a margin of three goals for only the second time in his career, after his Atalanta side were beaten 5-2 by Juventus in 2009.
Atalanta, who moved up to third, are hot on the top duo’s heels with 22 points, three behind Napoli who they upset last time out for their fifth consecutive league win.
On Sunday the Europa League winners host Udinese, in eighth, who are coming off consecutive losses against Venezia and Juventus.
The visitors have lost three of their last four league games after briefly taking the top spot in September.
Gian Piero Gasperini’s Atalanta side, meanwhile, are once again in the title picture although the manager remained cautious about their Scudetto chances.
“There are still 27 matches to go, and if you see Atalanta as winning the Scudetto I respect your opinion,” he said.
Juventus, in sixth, hope to win consecutive Serie A games for the first time since August when they host 10th-placed Torino in a local derby on Saturday.
Juve are favourites given Torino’s recent downturn in form, which includes six defeats in seven games in all competitions.
Juventus, unbeaten in 35 of the last 36 derbies against Torino in Serie A, are undefeated in the first 11 games of a league campaign for the first time since 2020-21.
