Serie A is currently producing the best title race in Europe with Inter and Napoli level on points with 5 games left to play this season. If the two sides finish the season level on points, a one legged playoff game will take place. It will be hosted by the team who leads on goal difference, which currently is Inter. However there is still a significant way to go.
Most people would have Inter as the favourites, given they are the defending champions and one of the strongest sides in the world. Their fixtures are against Roma (home), Hellas Verona (home), Torino (away), Lazio (home), Como (away). At the time of writing, during matchweek 33, Interโs opponents for the rest of the season have an average position of 9.8 in the table. Two of these games โ Roma and Lazio can be considered big games while Como or Torino could be banana skins too. Out of these teams, Roma, Lazio and Como are all in good form but it remains to be seen what happens. Not to forget, Inter have the small matter of a two-legged Champions League semifinal against Barcelona to contend with in the middle of this.
While Inter may have more firepower, Napoli have the potentially easier run-in. Starting today, Napoliโs fixtures till the end of the season are โ Torino (home), Lecce (away), Genoa (home), Parma (away) and Cagliari (home). The average position for these sides is 12.2. While they seem like easier fixtures, by the time Napoli play them, Lecce, Parma and Cagliari could all be the thick of a relegation battle and in that case would fight tooth and nail for every ball. Napoli also have no other competitions to worry about.
From this we can see that Inter have the trickier run-in compared to Napoli in what is Europeโs most closely contested title race this season. Will the 5 games be enough to decide a winner or will we see a playoff to decide the Scudetto?
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Kaulik Mitra l GIFNย
