Serie A Fantasy Predictions – Week 1

lazionapoli

Serie A is finally here after a compelling transfer market window.

Chievo-Juventus: Cristiano Ronaldo will debut in Verona, a city where the Old Lady has had a lot of success, winning in the last six trips. There is obviously a lot of curiosity to see how Massimiliano Allegri will feature the Portuguese ace and whether he will be quick to adapt to the new scenario. Paulo Dybala and Douglas Costa have looked good in pre-season, while Mario Mandzukic was late to the party. The defence were bolstered with the return of Leonardo Bonucci and Joao Cancelo patrolling the right wing. Wojciech Szczeny was passed the baton from Gianluigi Buffon. The Flying Donkeys lost two key elements like Roberto Inglese and Lucas Castro and hope to replace the former by committee with the likes of Mariusz Stepinski and Filip Djordjevic. Their most dangerous guy in this type of games is Emanuele Giaccherini.

Lazio-Napoli: undoubtedly the biggest match of the first round and with several storylines going on, starting with the Carlo Ancelotti, who is back to Serie A after nine seasons abroad. The Biancocelesti were to hold onto Sergej Milinkovic-Savic, opting to sell Felipe Anderson instead, aptly replaced by Joaquin Correa and Valon Berisha. The Serbian tank, alongside the brilliant Luis Alberto and Ciro Immobile, thus remains one of the biggest weapons at Simone Inzaghi’s disposal. The roster of the Azzurri was not overhauled as many expected after the departure of Maurizio Sarri: only Jorginho followed the manager to Chelsea. Marek Hamsik is set to play as deep-lying playmaker at least at the beginning of the season, which lowers his upside in terms of scoring, but opens up a spot for the exciting Piotr Zielinski and Fabian Ruiz. Arek Milik and Simone Verdi have had a strong pre-season, not so much last year’s starters up front, who might need some time to round into shape. The Partenopei were able to grab multiple Ws in the last few times they visited the Olimpico.

Torino-Roma: none this summer has been busier than Roma’s sporting director Monchi, who let go Alisson and Radja Nainggolan for rich offers and brought in 12 players, including some that could be big fantasy factors like Bryan Cristante, Javier Pastore and Justin Kluivert. The reliable Edin Dzeko, Diego Perotti and Stephan El Shaarawy are still here, even though they might see their playing time reduced if Patrik Schick got it going and Cengiz Under made the leap. Eusebio Di Francesco can certainly count on a much deeper squad and toy with different tactical looks. The Granata added a pair of elements to stabilize the defence and the midfield and mostly did not listen to the offers for Andrea Belotti, who is eager to bounce back after an injury-plagued here. Iago Falque will lead the way as he always does and Adem Ljajic will bring a spark when he feels to. The two teams have often shared the spoils when meeting in Piedmont.

Sassuolo-Inter: the revamped Nerazzurri will be looking to prove to be true title contenders in the first few outings and their summer has been remarkable thanks to the purchases of Radja Nainggolan, Lautaro Martinez, Keita Balde, Matteo Politano, Stefan De Vrij and Kwadwo Asamoah and most of them could be extremely relevant in fantasy. Mauro Icardi and Ivan Perisic will try to build on an excellent season and now have a lot more help, which should improve the team’s performances, but perhaps might affect their personal tallies. The Neroverdi are now managed by Roberto De Zerbi, which means that they will play a more offensive brand of football, which will enhance the skills of Domenico Berardi and newcomers Federico Di Francesco and Enrico Brignola. Kevin Prince Boateng is set to play false-nine, which is very intriguing. The Beneamata heavily battered the Emiliani a couple of times, but the latter have been able to get revenge in the last few encounters.

Atalanta-Frosinone: the Bergamaschi were able to overcome a stumble in the first leg agaisnt Sarajevo and other than that have been impressive in Europa League and scored a bounty of goals. Frosinone are still building their team and will need some time to make it jell, certainly the most recent signings like Joel Cambpell, Rai Vloet and Francesco Zampano are interesting one from the fantasy viewpoint. The Orobici will be without Josip Ilicic for a while, but they have not suffered from that yet considering the level of competition. Musa Barrow has been the most explosive player so far, while Duvan Zapata and Alejandro Gomez might need a little more time to be in peak condition. As for the Ciociari, they rely Camillo Ciano could be a menacing weapon off the bench in this one.

How well do you know Italian football? Do you want to battle the best Serie A Fantasy Managers? Play www.fantasyseriea.com now! 

To leave a comment, you must be logged into www.eurofantasyleague.com