Inter Milan dusted themselves down after suffering heartbreak in the 2023 Champions League final to win last season's Serie A title in dominant fashion, finishing 19 points clear of second-placed rivals AC Milan, and they are odds-on favourites to retain their crown.
It is difficult to oppose Simone Inzaghi’s exceptional Nerazzurri and therefore it may be worth dipping into some other outright markets for value ahead of the Serie A’s curtain-raiser on Saturday.
Salernitana, Sassuolo and Frosinone were relegated from Italy's top flight last season after a gruelling battle against the drop - just three points separated 13th and 18th - and the relegation race looks set to be just as tight this time around.
Below we have picked out three outright tips for the season to come, including a relegation punt and who we believe will be Inter's biggest threat.
- AC MILAN TO WIN (WITHOUT INTER)
- EMPOLI TO BE RELEGATED
- FIORENTINA TO FINISH ABOVE BOLOGNA
Bet On Serie A
AC Milan To Win (Without Inter Milan)
AC Milan finished a distant second to city rivals Inter in Serie A last season, so the Rossoneri will be eager to narrow the 19-point gap this term and a promising transfer window suggests they may be able to.
Paulo Fonseca is the new man at the helm at the San Siro and expectations are high of the Portuguese after his exploits in Ligue 1, where he led Lille to two top-five finishes.
Fonseca is excellent at extracting every drop of talent out of his players, as shown by the improvement of Angel Gomes and Jonathan David during his time at the Stade Pierre-Mauroy, so his appointment is a huge positive for Milan.
Strahinja Pavlovic is a promising centre-back who should help shore up a Milan defence which needed work having conceded more Serie A goals (49) than every other top-half side last term, while Euro 2024 winner Alvaro Morata can fill the void left by Olivier Giroud’s departure up front.
Fonseca could bring out the best in his compatriot Rafael Leao and the Rossoneri have held on to the services of fellow star men Tijjani Reijnders, Theo Hernandez and Mike Maignan, meaning they have one of the strongest squads in the Italian top flight.
Juventus and Napoli are also towards the top of the betting without Inter, although both have undergone major surgery this summer and may fall short as their respective changes take a while to bring success.
New Juventus bos Thiago Motta is an excellent manager who achieved great things with Bologna, leading them into the Champions League last term, but his ambitious ideas can take some time to understand and Juve are not assured of improving on their third-place finish of last season.
Napoli, meanwhile, have opted for the defensive style of Antonio Conte, which could prove to be a misstep. Their Scudetto win of two seasons ago was built on a brilliant attack and Conte is known to need certain profiles for his system to work, meaning, like at Juve, immediate success is far from guaranteed.
Fonseca, unlike Conte at Napoli, looks like the right fit for Milan and he should ensure the Rossoneri remain the champions' biggest threat.
Empoli To Be Relegated
At the other end of the table, Empoli could be set for a tumultuous campaign.
They beat the drop last season courtesy of a last-minute M’Baye Niang winner on the final day, ensuring they finished just one place and one point clear of the bottom three, but they may not be so fortunate this time around.
Empoli netted just 29 goals last term and Niang, scorer of six of those, has left the club this summer. Young forward Sebastiano Espositio has been brought in on loan to replace Naing's output but he is unproven and Gli Azzurri could struggle up front, even more than they did last season when only bottom-placed Salernitana recorded a lower expected-goals figure.
Key defender Sebastiano Luperto is another big loss as he was not only a brilliant presence at the back but also an exceptional ball-player, leaving Empoli’s already weak attack with even less service from deep this term.
New manager Roberto D’Aversa won just six of his 30 matches in his last job at Lecce, making his appointment an uninspiring one. Indeed, he has not achieved a win-rate higher than 30 per cent since leaving Parma in 2020 - notably having a dreadful 4.35 per cent rate of success in his second spell with I Crociati in 2021.
All the signs are that this could be the end of Empoli’s stay in Serie A.
Fiorentina To Finish Above Bologna
Bologna's success was the story of the 2023-24 Italian season, finishing fifth and securing Champions League football thanks to an entertaining and adventurous style of play.
They finished eight points clear of their rivals Fiorentina last term but some huge departures suggest those placings could be reversed this time around.
Top scorer Joshua Zirkzee has left to join Manchester United while standout defender Riccardo Calafiori has followed him to the Premier League after signing for Arsenal. The biggest departure of all, though, is undoubtedly Motta, the mastermind of everything Bologna achieved last season.
The distraction of the Champions League could leave a depleted squad stretched even thinner and their league form could suffer as a result.
Fiorentina, meanwhile, have added quality in key areas by bringing in goalkeeper David De Gea, forward Moise Kean and centre-back Marin Pongracic, who should be a more than suitable replacement for Nikola Milenkovic after ranking in the Serie A top 10 for interceptions last term with 1.4 per game.
Their new signings should compliment star men Nico Gonzalez and Lucas Beltran well and La Viola could be in for a solid campaign.
New manager Raffaelle Palladino caught the eye when leading Monza to back-to-back mid-table finishes - a respectable achievement given the relatively small stature of the club - and he could achieve great things with the two-time Conference League runners-up.
