Rafa Benitez is gone, Leonardo is Inter's new coach and he will have a difficult debut on the reigning champions' bench as they will meet second placed Napoli at San Siro on Thursday. Inter have won the Club World Cup before the new year and that could be a boost to their confidence but Napoli are in good shape as they won the last game 1-0 at home against Lecce.
Surprise title challengers Napoli will have another hurdle to overcome on Saturday when they will meet Fiorentina at home. Napoli beat Juventus 3-0 last week and they are second in the league table, four points behind leaders AC Milan. Fiorentina grabbed a 3-2 win against Brescia last week and they are sitting in a disappointing 12th place.
Struggling Roma will have a chance to redeem themselves on Saturday when they will meet second placed Napoli at Olimpico. Last week Roma were beaten 5-3 at Inter while Napoli continued their title chase with a quick 2-0 win against Cesena. Napoli are just three points behind leaders AC Milan while Roma slid down in 7th place, 10 points behind the leaders.
One of the toughest matches in the Europa League first knockout round will take place on Thursday at San Paolo where Napoli will meet Villarreal. Napoli are second in the Italian Serie A after collecting two consecutive wins while Villarreal dropped into fourth place in Primera Liga after two straight defeats.
After a goalless first leg in Italy the two teams will meet on Tuesday and this time they will have to score, even if that would mean going all the way to the penalty shoot out. Both teams are strong enough to cause damage so this is expected to be a fierce game.
Juve boss Ferrara isn't fairing well lately. In fact, it has been rumored that if Juventus loses the next match against Napoli in the Coppa Italia, Ferrara might find himself out of a job.
Current Serie A leaders AC Milan will meet second placed Napoli on Monday in the top of the table derby. The two teams are separated by only three points so whoever wins this will receive a big boost in the title race. Both teams won last weekend, AC Milan beat Chievo 2-1 away from home while Napoli grabbed a narrow 1-0 win over Catania. However, Napoli suffered a setback on Thursday as they were knocked out of the Europa League after losing at Villarreal.
AC Milan failed to take full advantage of Inter Milan's draw against Palermo last night as they were held to a draw at home to Napoli. How did Ronaldinho do?
With eight games left to play the race is quite tight for this season's Serie A title. Here's the current top five:
1. AC Milan - 62 points
2. Inter Milan - 60 points
3. Napoli - 59 points
4. Udinese - 56 points
5. Lazio - 54 points
Who will win the title?
Struggling Liverpool will travel to Southern Italy for their third Europa League group match against high-flying Napoli. Liverpool are top of group K with 4 points out of the first two games while Napoli sit second with two points.
