Fiorentina, Atalanta, Bologna, Roma, Napoli, and Torino will all be confident they can obtain European qualification this season. While Lazio will be hopeful of going far in this year’s competition, it ultimately adds more games to their congested domestic list – but if the sports bookmakers are anything to go by, Lazio is unlikely to squeeze past Bayern, one of the favourites for this year’s European Cup.
Given that Inter made it to last year’s final and Milan got to the semis, Lazio will be keen to continue the uptrend of Italian teams upsetting the European dominance of the English Premier League. With free EPL predictions provided by betting experts at Football Whispers – Serie A fans can explore the odds available across other domestic leagues, too.
Atalanta, Roma, Napoli & Crucial Upcoming Fixtures
Atalanta are the favourites to land the top four out of the current cluster of six. Given that they play Lazio at home in a couple of weeks and don’t have any European distractions, the bookies probably have it right at the moment. As we know with Serie A, there are many mitigating factors, and things don’t always pan out how they’re meant to on paper. Ultimately, this fixture could play a seminal role in how the rest of the bottom half of the top half of the table takes shape.
Another gigantic fixture further down the line could be the derby against Roma. After Jose Mourinho lost his job and was replaced by Daniele De Rossi, it’ll be intriguing to see how they play with such a new coach. If the Derby della Capitale has taught us anything over the years, it’s that anything can happen – and with the teams both vying for the top four, this could be one of the spiciest league derby games there’s been for a while. The Coppa Italia quarter-final, which saw three red cards, could take some beating, but if the top four is on the line, who knows what could happen? There’s certainly no shortage of needles.
There’s no denying that Lazio has been poor this season, especially compared to last year when they pipped two Champions League semi-finalists to a second-place league finish. Perhaps this can help galvanize the squad to try and push for the Champions League spots – but the same could be said for Napoli, who have capitulated following last season’s title win.
Who Will Land The Champions League Spots?
Given that Juventus, Milan, and Inter are competing against each other, far ahead of the chasing pack, there’s very little chance of anybody catching them. Fourth is all to play for, though, and with four wins in the last five, there’s a lot of momentum in the Lazio camp, especially compared with some of the teams who are also going for the top four.
Atalanta still has to play Inter and Juventus away from home, but their home games are winnable. If they can steer clear of injuries, you’d expect they’d be the team that finishes fourth. The sportsbooks don’t tend to get this wrong, and with Atalanta at roughly 11/4 to finish in the Champions League places and Lazio at around 7/2, there’ll have to be a few twists and turns that benefit Maurizio Sarri’s men to push on.
Who knows? If they can beat Bayern Munich, this could put them within a chance of winning the Champions League, but that route is even more unlikely than them finishing in the top four, with the odds of both being extremely slim.
