The first break in the club season is an opportunity to make the first initial balance of the race for the championship title in the Italian championship. The seven rounds so far have heralded a much more uncertain race for the Scudetto and places in the Champions League, Europa League, and Conference League. Unlike previous years when we had two, at most three, realistic contenders for the crown, this time everything will be much more uncertain, among other things due to the anomaly called the World Cup in the middle of the season, when it is not the time, the condensed calendar and the increased risk of player injuries.
The number of players from Serie A clubs who will play at the World Cup and how far their national teams will go should not be underestimated either. In this context, the most penalized are Juventus and Milan, who are sending 11 players to Qatar, Inter will have eight players, Atalanta six, while Roma and Napoli will have to lose five players, Lazio only two, and Udinese only one.
In one sentence, we could say that the first seven rounds confirmed that Luciano Spalletti’s teams start the season, furiously. Udinese is the most pleasant surprise, Gasperini has completely changed the philosophy of Atalanta’s game and even they sold several important players, Atalanta at the moment is in the 2nd position with the same number of points as the leader Napoli. Juve is facing the same problems as in the previous season plus an even greater number of injuries, Inzaghi seems to have lost the direction of Inter, and Milan, despite the defeat against Napoli, gives the impression that this year to stay until the end in the race for the scudetto, Roma is a big unknown because no one knows how many games Dybala will play, Lazio is even more dependent on the trio of Milinkovic – Luis Alberto – Immobile.
At the other half of the table, this break mostly waited in Sampdoria, the team is at the bottom of the table with only 2 points won so far, the same goes for the newcomer Cremonese. Monza managed to win the first-ever points in Serie A in the last 2 rounds before this break. Verona, Bologna, Lecce, Empoli, and Salernitara are the main contenders for relegation, and this race for survival will be long and uncertain.
