Serie A Tips: New Year, Same Old Juve

It’s a new year and Enzo returns with three Italian football bets that he thinks will extend his profitable run into 2023.

Lecce v Lazio

Wed 4th Jan 15:30

Lecce will come into the new year full of hope and confidence. A fantastic pre-break run, which saw the Salentini pick up seven points from a possible nine, means that they will begin 2023 eight points clear of the relegation zone.

Lazio too will be boosted by the return of Ciro Immobile who had been sidelined with a thigh strain since October. The four-time capocannoniere is set to start upfront alongside Mattia Zaccagni on Wednesday afternoon. The Biancocelesti will need Immobile to hit the ground running if they are to stay in the hunt for the hotly contested Champions League places. As things stand, Lazio sit in 4th but just six points separate Milan in 2nd and 7th placed Roma.

Even without their star striker, Lazio had been fairly reliable leading up to the break. Away from home they have only lost once so a Lazio win @ 11/10 looks like a fair price and one worth taking.

Cremonese v Juventus

Wed 4th Jan 17:30

By all accounts the 2022/23 season has not been a good one for Juventus. On the field, turgid performances and injuries to key players have contributed to the Bianconeri failing to get out of their champions league group and them being ten points adrift of the Serie A summit. Off the pitch things are not much better. In November the entire board of directors resigned and the club could face a sporting trial for alleged inflated transfers.

The only bright spot has been their rock solid defence. Juventus have the best record in the league with just 7 goals conceded. In fact, all of Juve’s nine victories have come without the opposition scoring. On Wednesday they face relegation threatened Cremonese who are also Serie A’s second worst goalscorers. This is the perfect opportunity for Juve to start the year with a bang so, despite the backroom chaos, Juventus win to nil @ 7/4 is my second Serie A bet of the week.

Inter Milan v Napoli

Wed 4th Jan 19:45

There is no need to go into great detail as to how brilliant Luciano Spaletti’s Napoli have been this season. The Partenopei are the leagues topscorers, are unbeaten in 15 matches and sit eight points clear at the top of the table.

Inter, like Juventus, are not enjoying the best of campaigns. The Nerazzurri are in 5th and have already lost more games than in the entirety of last season. However, on the plus side, finding the net not been a problem for Inzaghi’s side and they are second behind Napoli for most goals scored.

An away victory here is priced at a very tempting 9/4 but I have a niggling feeling that Napoli fans might be in for a nervy start to the new year. You only have to look at Lazio to see how an extended break can affect a team. The Biancocelesti were undefeated in 20 games and chasing their third scudetto before covid hit and forced the league to be suspended. When play resumed they were a shadow of the team that began the campaign and ended up finishing fourth. I am going to wait and see how Napoli react before backing any results in their games but regardless of what happens the goals should continue to flow. Over 3.5 goals @ 7/4 is my final Serie A bet of the week.