By Anita Kobylinska
(Reuters) – Revitalised Napoli face a demanding test when they welcome in-form Atalanta on Sunday hoping to solidify top spot in Serie A while second-placed Inter Milan host lowly Venezia.
Champions in 2023, Napoli have rediscovered their form under former Italy coach Antonio Conte and are on a nine-game unbeaten league run.
They are coming off a 2-0 win at AC Milan on Tuesday when Romelu Lukaku and Khvicha Kvaratskhelia scored first-half goals to keep up the momentum.
However, the league’s most solid defence with five goals conceded will be up against Champions League side Atalanta, Serie A’s top-scoring team with 26 goals after 10 games.
Atalanta, in third on 19 points, have Italy striker Mateo Retegui, who leads the standings for Serie A top scorers with 10 goals ahead of Inter’s Marcus Thuram with seven and Juve’s Dusan Vlahovic on six.
Second-placed Inter trail Napoli by four points, and before the sides meet at San Siro in the next round of games the champions will hope for a smooth win at home to promoted Venezia.
Simone Inzaghi’s men, unbeaten in seven games across both Serie A and the Champions League, should be too good for Venezia who are in the relegation zone.
The picture is less rosy for Milan, who will hope to avoid losing further ground in the race for the Scudetto at struggling Monza on Saturday.
That race is still very much alive, coach Paulo Fonseca believes, despite the recent home defeat by Napoli.
“No team has won the championship after nine games and no team has lost it after nine games,” Fonseca said.
Having won four Serie A fixtures in the campaign, Milan sit eighth in the standings on 14 points with a game in hand, 11 points off top spot
Juventus will seek to break their run of three competitive matches without a victory when they travel to seventh-placed Udinese on Saturday.
The Turin side came from behind twice to salvage a 2-2 draw at home to promoted Parma on Wednesday, after a thrilling 4-4 draw at Inter followed their 1-0 home loss to VfB Stuttgart in the Champions League last week.
Juve, fourth in the table with 18 points, have drawn 16 out of 30 league games in 2024, a record in the top five European leagues.
Only once have they recorded more draws in a single calendar year in Serie A with 17 in 1956.
(Reporting by Anita Kobylinska in Gdansk, editing by Ed Osmond)
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