Serie A mid-point report: Inter turning the screw, Mourinho & Allegri in top four danger, Vlahovic brilliance

Inter Milan probably never imagined their standing in Serie A when they played AC Milan in gameweek 12’s Derby della Madonnina. 

It ended 1-1 at San Siro with Simone Inzaghi’s team trailing Stefano Pioli’s team that had dropped only four points in the opening 12 rounds of the campaign. Fast forward seven gameweeks and Inter now find themselves opening a gap at the top of the table as the Rossoneri, Napoli and previously in-form Atalanta have faltered.

The defending champions picked up seven straight victories to end the year and head into 2022 four points clear of Milan, seven clear of Luciano Spalletti’s troops and eight clear of the Bergamaschi. 

Only a fortnight back, it appeared to be a four-way battle for the Scudetto tussle, but Inzaghi’s team appear to be turning the screw as they look to retain the title they claimed last season under Antonio Conte.

With 19 rounds to come in 2022 and a lot of football to be played, it would be ill-advised to crown Inter Serie A winners for a second successive campaign, but they are looking good going into the New Year.

This year’s Serie A top four tussle was always going to throw up interesting narratives but observers never imagined both Massimiliano Allegri and Jose Mourinho’s teams would not find themselves in the Champions League positions. 

Of course, the forms of Juventus and Roma before the Christmas break, coupled with the drop-offs in the red half of Milan, Naples and Bergamo, mean they appear primed to push a couple of sides in the current top four positions. 

Allegri’s troops made the most of a kind schedule to pick up 13 from an available 15 to close out 2021, while Mourinho’s Rome outfit responded to a 3-0 defeat by Inter to claim seven from nine, including an unforeseen 4-1 thrashing of Atalanta away from home. 

The Old Lady sit four points behind La Dea in fourth and five adrift of third-placed Napoli at the halfway point in the league. With games against Spalletti’s men, Roma and Milan to come in January, Allegri’s team could end the opening month of next year in the coveted Champions League spots or further adrift in the table. 

Victor Osimhen may have threatened to be this season’s star man until injury scuppered his challenge, but Dusan Vlahovic’s remarkable goalscoring sees him lead the Capocannoniere race with 16 goals, ahead of Ciro Immobile (13), Giovanni Simeone (12) and Lautaro Martinez (11).

The Serbian’s last strike in 2021 saw him equal Cristiano Ronaldo’s record of 33 goals in a calendar year for a Serie A player (set in 2020), and he is the undoubted front-runner to claim the top scorer’s award by season’s end. 

Vlahovic fell just short of Gunnar Nordahl’s 36-goal league record, but Fiorentina have an outside chance of a top four push if their star player stays till the end of the season. 

This year’s relegation battle appears to bear similarities with last season’s where Parma and Crotone looked a step below top flight quality. In 2021/22, Salernitana already appear doomed to go down, while Cagliari and Andriy Shevchenko’s Genoa are in dire straits after 19 rounds. 

All three sides are separated by three points but Spezia in 17th spot are six ahead of Shevchenko’s troops who remain winless under the former Ukraine boss. 

With the battle for survival not particularly fascinating, the Scudetto race and battle for the major European spots have dominated the storylines in the first half of the season and things will get even more interesting when the clubs return to action in the New Year.