Inter and Juve in top spot tussle as Walter Mazzarri begins Napoli reign
Two points ahead of Juve after 12 matches, leaders Interhave had a dream season so far as they look comfortably Italy's best team and have ensured passage to the Champions League knockouts with two matches to spare. Now they begin a brutal run of fixtures against a Juve team which has become the distillation of Massimiliano Allegri's hyper-pragmatic style of football - hard on the eyes and even harder to break down.
With Milan and champions Napoli both faltering Juve are Inter's closest challengers and have the benefit, thanks to last season's accounting controversies, of having no European football clogging up their calendar. Inter meanwhile take on Juve in Turin before travelling to Portugal to face Benfica and then move on to Naples, admittedly a less intimidating prospect than last season, with Udinese, Real Sociedad and then Lazio all also coming up in the next three weeks.
Simone Inzaghi's team have the league's best attack with 29 goals, led by Lautaro Martinez's incredible tally of 12 in 12, and the best defence with just six conceded. And with Juve's top scorers - Dusan Vlahovic and Federico Chiesa - both stuck on four goals since September their opposition appear to lack the firepower with which to damage an Inter team that Roma boss Jose Mourinho said "should win the league by 20 points".
Inter's CEO Giuseppe Marotta meanwhile has tried to shift the focus onto Juve given their continental commitments, trying to dampen expectations after their last two title challenges fell flat. "In the medium term Juve are favourites because not taking part in European competition allows you to better plan training sessions and means less physical stress on players," Marotta told reporters on Tuesday.
"We've got a good team, a
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