All the top-five European leagues except the English Premier League are enjoying a good break for a week or two during a winter period. English Premier League will continue their traditional Boxing Day fixtures and two more matches after that despite a Covid-19 outbreak in the United Kingdom.
Top Italian league Serie A concluded their half-season fixtures on Wednesday and now enter two weeks of winter break. As expected, the last four months have been exciting as ever for the Italian football fans. We will be covering Serie A analysis on standings, stats, and predictions after the winter break in this article.
Serie A 2021-22 Standings:
Italian Champions Inter Milan are on the course to retaining their title for the consecutive year. Despite losing manager Antonio Conte and their star striker Romelu Lukaku to Premier League clubs, they have managed to stay top of the table before the winter break. New manager Simone Inzaghi adopted a 3-5-2 formation, almost similar to Conte’s 3-4-2-1 formation, to dominate the league this season. They sit at top of the Serie A table with 46 points in 19 league matches, won 14 and lost just 1, scored 49 goals, and conceded just 15 in return.
The Nerazzurri’s bitter rivals AC Milan are just 4 points behind them, and it looks like both Milan clubs will be up against toe-to-toe till the match week 38. Rossoneri continues their domestic revival this season as well, after finishing last season as runner-ups. This month AC Milan dropped crucial 5 points in the last three fixtures to lose their top spot to their rivals but ended half-season with a 2-4 away victory over Empoli yesterday.
Napoli were dominating the first three months of Italian football but December came as a horror show for them. They won just 1 out of 5 league matches in December and lost 3 in the process. Gli Azzurri also suffered three home defeats this month, 2 of them against Spezia and Empoli. Luciano Spalleti’s side are now 7 points behind leaders Inter Milan, so the title challenge is still possible but not with this form. Atalanta BC also continue its emergence as one of the top teams in Italian football last few seasons. They managed to defeat Juventus and Napoli in away fixtures, to finish another season in top-four.
Heavyweights Juventus sit at 5th position in the league table with 34 points, 4 behind 4th placed Atalanta and 12 behind leaders Inter Milan. It is safe to say that their title hopes are over so finishing another season in top-four will be a priority for Bianconeri this season. League giants Roma, Fiorentina, and Lazio are occupying the 6th, 7th, and 8th spot respectively, and will be battling for the top-six finish this season.
Newly promoted Empoli have emerged as the surprise package of the season, lying at 9th position with 27 points. Other newcomers Salernitana are lying at bottom of the table with just 8 points in 18 league matches, 8 points clear off the safe zone. They are now sure to get relegated to Serie B at the end of the season. Third-promoted team Venezia have impressed this season with wins over league giants Roma and Fiorentina and also hold off Juventus at home two weeks ago. They sit in 16th position in the league table with 17 points, 6 points off the relegation zone.
Serie A table at the end of the first round pic.twitter.com/oRHBu6F4gA
— Meytar Zeevi (@RossoneriBlog) December 22, 2021
Serie A 2021-22 Stats:
Highest Goals Scored by Team:
- Inter Milan – 49 Goals
- AC Milan – 40 Goals
- Lazio – 39 Goals
- Atalanta – 38 Goals
- Napoli – 35 Goals
- Fiorentina & Verona – 34 Goals
Lowest Goals Scored by Team:
- Salernitana – 11 Goals
- Cagliari – 17 Goals
- Venezia – 18 Goals
- Genoa & Spezia – 19 Goals
- Torino – 23 Goals
Lowest Goals Conceded by Team:
- Napoli – 14 Goals
- Inter Milan – 15 Goals
- Juventus – 17 Goals
- Torino – 19 Goals
- Roma – 21 Goals
- AC Milan – 22 Goals
Highest Goals Conceded by Team:
- Salernitana – 42 Goals
- Cagliari – 40 Goals
- Spezia – 39 Goals
- Genoa – 37 Goals
- Sampdoria – 35 Goals
Highest Goals Scored by Player:
- Dusan Vlahovic – 16 Goals
- Ciro Immobile – 13 Goals
- Giovanni Simeone – 12 Goals
- Lautaro Martinez – 11 Goals
- Duan Zapata – 9 Goals
- Joao Pedro – 9 Goals
Highest Assists by Player:
- Hakan Calhanoglu – 7
- Nicolo Barella – 7
- Domenico Berardi – 6
- Luis Alberto – 6
- Sergej Milinkovic Savic – 6
Highest Saves by Goalkeeper:
- Guglielmo Vicario(Empoli) – 68
- Lukasz Skorupski(Bologna) – 65
- Vid Belec(Salernitana) – 60
- Salvatore Sirigu(Genoa) – 60
- Sergio Romero(Venezia) – 55
Highest Yellow Cards:
- Bartosz Bereszynski – 9
- Morten Thorsby – 8
- Ethan Ampadu – 7
- Nicolas Domingues – 7
- Nicolo Zaniolo – 7
Here is the official source for the Serie A stats.
Serie A 2021-22 Predictions:
Serie A followers will wait till match week 38 to learn new champions of the Serie A 2021-22. Both Milan clubs are in good rhythm this season and both San Siro giants will finish the season in top-two spots. AC Milan were knocked out of the UEFA Champions League by Liverpool in their last match of Group B.
So Stefano Pioli will be concentrating on the domestic title with a clear vision and more time to prepare for each match in the second half of the season. So Rosonerri have the upper hand over their rivals, they will overtake Nerazzurri and eventually end their wait for the 19th league title after 11 years.
Napoli and Atalanta are expected to finish this season in the top four but will face Juventus for the 3rd and 4th spot. Old Lady will be spending in the January transfer window to boost their chances in the second half of the season. AS Roma and Lazio will miss out on top-four finish but will fight with Fiorentina for the Europa League qualification spots next season.
Salernitana are sure to finish the season at the bottom of the table. Genoa and Cagliari are still 5 and 6 points behind the safe zone. Both teams need to spend in the winter transfer window to avoid relegation this season.
Serie A 2021-22 Predicted Top-6:
- AC Milan
- Inter Milan
- Atalanta
- Juventus
- Napoli
- Lazio
Stay tuned for the same feature articles on Bundesliga, La Liga, and Ligue 1.