Matchday 27 is complete in Italy, and our review shows that Juventus were the big winners in Serie A in this round of fixtures.
Serie A Matchday 27 Review
The Old Lady of Italian football completed what looked like a routine 2-0 victory over Bologna on Monday. But in reality it was anything but routine, as - along with Atalanta beating Lazio - it moved Maurizio Sarri’s team 4 points clear at the top.
This now puts clear water between Juventus and their closest rivals Lazio, and the league leaders are now 1/5 to win Serie A this season.
Serie A Winner Betting Odds
- Juventus - 1/5
- Lazio - 4/1
- Inter Milan - 19/1
- Atalanta - 100/1
The news gets better for Juventus as well. They kick-off Matchday 28 on Friday with a home fixture against relegation threatened Leece, giving them the chance to put 7 points between themselves and Lazio.
This will no doubt increase the pressure on The Eagles, who are at home to Fiorentina on Saturday, in another winnable looking match. But with the possibility of the added pressure of a 7 points gap, who knows.
Simone Inzaghi’s team were the architects of their own downfall on Wednesday night away at Lazio. After racing into an early 2-0 lead against Serie A’s top scorers, they couldn't see the job through.
I got the impression Lazio thought they could defend for 80 minutes against Atalanta, a dangerous tactic for obvious reasons. A 3-2 defeat ensued, and a quick look at the stats shows what a misguided tactic that was.
Gian Piero Gasperini’s team outplayed Inzaghi’s after that. They dominated the possession with 59%, and had 21 attempts on goal, compared to Lazio’s 8. Although in fairness, if you are judging it by shots on target it’s much closer (8-4 in favour of Atalanta).
Roma still harbour hopes of a Champions League spot
It was a vital 3 points for Gasperini’s team, as Roma are still harbouring hopes of catching them and taking the 4th Champions League spot. Paulo Fonseca’s team beat Sampdoria 2-1 to remain 6 points off the Top 4.
While 6 points might sound a big gap, there are still 11 matches left. Meaning if Roma go on a winning run, that gap could soon disappear.
Serie A’s other Top 4 team, Inter Milan drew 3-3 at home to Sassuolo, dropping 2 points. After taking the lead in the 86th minute, it was pretty criminal for Conte’s team not to be able to hold on.
Inter are 10 points clear of 5th place. And barring a disastrous run in, that should be enough to guarantee Champions League football.
At the bottom, Lecce, Genoa and Sampdoria all lost, keeping them all in danger of claiming the 3rd relegation spot.
The big result at the bottom was Torino’s 1-0 win over Udinese on Tuesday. This sees the Turin based side open up a 6 point lead over the relegation zone, while Udinese remain just 3 points clear of the drop.