Sports Betting Guide: the Return of the Italian Serie A

September 17, 2020 06:06 am

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For the first time in the last three years. Odds on Juventus winning Italy’s Serie A have exceeded -200. With other teams in the league rising last year to make the race for the title close, we look to examine what the 2020-21 season has in store for us.

The development of soccer in Italy is moving forward in the right direction. Last season, five Serie A teams competed in two of Europe’s most popular tournaments, the Champions League and the Europa League. The 2020-21 Serie A season, which begins on September 19 with two games, will be one in which great expectations may fall flat.

For the first time in three seasons Juventus is not considered a sure thing by sportsbooks.

Since the 2016-17 season, Juventus has not received odds for winning the league higher than the sportsbooks are currently offering. Inter Milan has already been gaining ground under the management of Antonio Conte the past few seasons along with other strong contenders such as Napoli, Atalanta, AC Milan and Atalanta.

This is already shaping up to be the most exciting Serie A in four years!

Andrea Pirlo versus everyone for top of Serie A Standings!

For the second season in a row, Juventus the new season with a new head coach. Sarri’s ideas did not catch on in Turin like they previously did in Napoli, and so now Juventus has turned to former club legend Andrea Pirlo. No one knows how Pirlo will perform in his new role, however, the beauty of this is that the sportsbooks also do not know. This includes their results not only in the Serie A, but in the Coppa Italia (league cup) and the Champions League as well.

Rising Forces: the Milan Mafia

Likely to be the most fierce contender for Juventus’ current crown, Inter Milan has grown up next to Juventus, about a two hour drive away. Even before Antonio Conte appeared at the Giuseppe Meazza, Italian experts were already beginning to talk about the potential overthrow of the Turin dominance in the Serie A standings.

However, in the beginning, Inter lacked that additional piece to finally finish at the top. Perhaps, that missing piece will turn out to be Archaf Hakimi, who was brought to the team for around $45 million. In general, sportsbooks are waiting for a real battle between Juventus and Inter in the new season, among other teams with a legitimate shot to finish top of the Serie A table.

We cannot forget about the other Milan team, who has become the hot topic of summer transfers in Serie A. When we look at the Serie A table after the quarantine period, we do not find Juventus or Inter, but rather none other than AC Milan. Stefano Pioli has, in a short period of time (took the job in October 2019), managed to take a team struggling to find its former glory and returned them to being a formidable squad with the goal of winning the Serie A.

However, the main star of AC Milan is not the coach, but rather it’s the eccentric forward Zlatan Ibrahimovic. The Swedish striker’s statements after Milan's July 7th victory over Juventus were scattered all over the Italian press:

Out of Bergamo Rises a New Protagonist

Reaching the Champions League quarterfinals, finishing third place in the Serie A standings, the record for highest number of goals scored (98) in a season since the beginning of the 21st century - who else could it be other than Atalanta. What is more surprising is that after such a successful season, manager Gian Piero Gasperini managed to keep the team almost intact with only Timothy Castagne leaving the club for the Premier League, and Gianluca Mancini to Roma.

To counter the losses, the team signed attacking midfielder Alexey Miranchuk from Lokomotiv Moscow. Now the high hopes of Atalanta will be put on an even bigger scale, as the team is no longer an unknown fairy tale. We await even higher results for the club from Bergamo.

For two years in a row, Atalanta has become the most productive club offensively in Serie A:

77 goals in the 2018/19 season
98 goals in the 2019/20 season

If we logically continue the chain, then in the new cycle the club from Bergamo must go over 100 goals. What will be the contribution of striker Duvan Zapata in this scoring bonanza? Sportsbooks have put the mark at 19.5 goals.

Who Reigns Supreme in Rome

The Italian capital has changed its superstar team. For years, Roma has held the title of the best team in Rome, but last season the team was surpassed by the magnificent Lazio. Sportsbooks have taken notice of the change and have given significantly better odds for Lazio in comparison to Roma.

Will either of the Roman clubs finish atop the Serie A standings in the 2020/21 season?

Are the sportsbooks analyses really surprising? Roma has not changed its head coach, and has not brought in many newcomers to the team. Through these two non changes, finishing top of the Serie A table seems like a fantasy. With Lazio, the storyline is different. Simone Ignazhi as manager has already proven his worth. If the team is able to maintain its current roster, it should be able to complete the season at the same level, with no regressions.

Napoli: a True Contender or Old News?

Before the new season in Serie A begins, there are a few things that we can confidently predict. Juventus and Inter will be strong, Atalanta will continue to score and Lazio will provide serious competition to the decided favorites for top of the Serie A standings. However, Napoli stands out as a mystery.

Just a small fact: Napoli has shelled out over $83 million for Lille striker Victor Osimhen, who managed to score 13 goals in 27 games last season.

Gennaro Gattuso remains on as Napoli’s manager. This for many stands as incomprehensible. On one hand, the manager has been able to extinguish internal team conflicts (although midfielder Allan has left the club). On the other hand, Napoli finished seventh last season in the Serie A standings, and was taken out of the Champions League by Barcelona. Suprisingly, USA sportsbooks are seemingly giving the team a decent chance to win.

I swear on my crooked hat that even these odds arent worth the risk.

Once again, we recall the odds for the victory of all the main favorites of the Italian Serie A of the 2020/21 season. Make use of this table to grade each sportsbook's ability to assess the competition at the end of the Serie A season.


Juventus	-118	-115	-125
Inter Milan	+170	+186	+200
Atalanta	+1100	+1100	+1100
Napoli	+800	+1100	+1100
Lazio	+2000	+2000	+2000
AC Milan	+2000	+2000	+2000
Roma	+3000	+3300	+4000

These magnificent seven will start the season on September 19 in the Italian Serie A!

Betting on the Serie A top scorer in the 2020-21 season

The goal scoring race in the upcoming 2020-21 Serie A season is a separate conversation. Let us remind everyone that last season, Lazio frontman Ciro Immobile left everyone in his dust, including the man himself, Christiano Ronaldo. Along with picking up the Golden Boot with a staggering 36 goals in Serie A, the Italian international even eclipsed Bayern’s Robert Lewandowski.

Thus, it turns out that the best striker in the world does not play in the Premier League or in Bundesliga, but in Serie A!

And what about Christiano? The Portuguese has recently scored his 100th (and 101st) goal in the national team and is about to break the record of the Iranian Ali Daei, who has 109 goals. But in the Italian championship, goals are given to Ronaldo with great difficulty.

Perhaps everything will change with the arrival of Andrea Pirlo?

Last season, Romelu Lukaku made his debut in the Italian Serie A. The Inter striker began to score from the very first game and drew praise from the fans of the Milan club. But Lukaku failed to score more than 23 goals (Immobile - 36, Ronaldo - 31).

The second year for the Belgian ramming forward could be a breakthrough.

Among the European scorers, there is also an overseas star in Italy at Atalanta. Colombian Duvan Zapata has been churning out goals scored for several seasons in a row. The attacker is hampered by injuries that knock him out of the squad for several weeks. However, without Zapata it is impossible to imagine Atalanta. Recall that now Duvan will have a Russian carrier of assists Alexei Miranchuk. What is not a reason to swing at the Golden Boot?

So we say ciao Italy! The 2020/21 Serie A season begins!

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