Serie A fixture difficulty ratings: who has toughest games until the end of the year? | OneFootball

As domestic football resumes after the international break, the Serie A title race looks set to go through an important chapter, with the first six teams in the standings, all within two points, hoping to either maintain or improve their position until the end of the year.

With such tight distances separating one side from the other, the fixture list, alongside the form status of each of them, may play a crucial role in determining who’ll finish the year at the top of the table and the edge they’ll be able to get over the other title contenders.

TURIN, ITALY – NOVEMBER 09: Sebastian Walukiewicz of Torino battles for possession with Kenan Yildiz of Juventus during the Serie A match between Juventus and Torino at Juventus Stadium on November 09, 2024 in Turin, Italy. (Photo by Valerio Pennicino/Getty Images)

Antonio Conte’s Napoli are currently Serie A leaders, but the likes of Atalanta, Inter, and Juventus follow at a close distance, ready to leapfrog the Partenopei in case of any slip-up.

Paulo Fonseca’s Milan are more distant but have a game in hand after the postponement of their Bologna fixture, meaning they still have chances of closing in on the upper group, although they can’t afford to make many more mistakes than they already did.

Let’s see the degree of difficulty of every Serie A match of the first seven teams in the table, based on a rating from one (*) to five (*****).

Napoli’s next Serie A opponents rated by difficulty

Napoli won’t be able to sit on their one-point lead at the top of Serie A, especially in the upcoming weeks when they’ll take on Roma in Claudio Ranieri’s first game at the helm and then travel to Torino, before hosting Lazio in the toughest game of this series.

Roma (H, Nov 24, ***) Torino (A, Dec 1, ***) Lazio (H, Dec 8, ****) Udinese (A, Dec 14, ***) Genoa (A, Dec 21, **) Venezia (H, Dec 29, *)

Atalanta’s next Serie A opponents rated by difficulty

Atalanta’s fixture list until the end of 2024 alternates seemingly softer matches with high-difficulty games, but avoiding defeat or even beating Milan and Lazio would make their title challenge even more credible.

Parma (A, Nov 23, **) Roma (A, Dec 2, ***) Milan (H, Dec 6, ****) Cagliari (A, Dec 14, **) Empoli (H, Dec 22, *) Lazio (A, Dec 28, *****)

NAPLES, ITALY – NOVEMBER 03: Ademola Lookman of Atalanta celebrates after scoring his side first goal during the Serie A match between Napoli and Atalanta at Stadio Diego Armando Maradona on November 03, 2024 in Naples, Italy. (Photo by Francesco Pecoraro/Getty Images)

Fiorentina’s next Serie A opponents rated by difficulty

Fiorentina surprisingly sit third, level on points with Atalanta, as Serie A restarts after the international break – games against Inter and Juventus in early and late December, respectively, will be the sternest tests for Raffaele Palladino’s side and will say a lot about their aspirations for the second term.

Como (A, Nov 24, **) Inter (H, Dec 1, *****) Cagliari (H, Dec 8, *) Bologna (A, Dec 15, ***) Udinese (H, Dec 23, **) Juventus (A, Dec 29, *****)

Inter’s next Serie A opponents rated by difficulty

Inter’s inability to win any of their head-to-heads with their Serie A contenders, except for a 4-0 win over Atalanta at the beginning of the season, will urge Simone Inzaghi to get at least one victory from the two most complicated fixtures they’ll face until the end of the year, away to Fiorentina and Lazio.

Shouldn’t they be able to do that, their title hopes would be inevitably affected.

Verona (A, Nov 23, **) Fiorentina (A, Dec 1, ****) Parma (H, Dec 6, **) Lazio (A, Dec 16, *****) Como (H, Dec 23, **) Cagliari (A, Dec 28, **)

MILAN, ITALY – NOVEMBER 10: Hakan Calhanoglu of FC Internazionale scores his team’s first goal, past Alex Meret of Napoli (not pictured) during the Serie A match between FC Internazionale and Napoli at Stadio Giuseppe Meazza on November 10, 2024 in Milan, Italy. (Photo by Marco Luzzani/Getty Images)

Lazio’s next Serie A opponents rated by difficulty

Lazio’s upcoming games will be decisive in determining whether Marco Baroni’s side can really make a surprising title challenge or are destined to only compete for a European spot.

They’ll play Napoli, Inter and Atalanta in the space of three weeks, but facing the latter two at the Stadio Olimpico could be a relevant factor for a team that has picked up five wins and one draw from their home matches so far.

Bologna (H, Nov 24, ***) Parma (A, Dec 1, ***) Napoli (A, Dec 8, *****) Inter (H, Dec 16, *****) Lecce (A, Dec 21, **) Atalanta (H, Dec 28, *****)

Juventus’ next Serie A opponents rated by difficulty

Thiago Motta has a chance to finish the year on a positive note, as Juventus’ fixture list is mostly made of relatively softer games, except for clashes at Milan and against Fiorentina. If they manage to preserve their unbeaten streak in the upcoming matches, they’ll likely be well-positioned in the table at the start of 2025.

Milan (A, Nov 23, *****) Lecce (A, Dec 1, **) Bologna (H, Dec 7, ***) Venezia (H, Dec 14, *) Monza (A, Dec 22, **) Fiorentina (H, Dec 29, ****)

Milan’s next Serie A opponents rated by difficulty

Milan have already faced most of the teams currently occupying the first positions in the standings, but since they’re currently eight points behind leaders Napoli, despite a game in hand, beating Juventus at home and Atalanta away could be arguably their only way to catch up with the main candidates for the title, unless they start dropping many points.

Juventus (H, Nov 23, *****) Empoli (H, Nov 30, *) Atalanta (A, Dec 6, *****) Genoa (H, Dec 15, *) Verona (A, Dec 20, **) Roma (H, Dec 29, ***)