THERE'S a 10-hour feast of Italian football on Tuesday starting with Udinese-Roma at 11.30am and finishing with Juventus-Inter Milan at 8pm.
The late match could be the best of the lot with Juventus coach Massimiliano Allegri insisting there will be no hangover following a disappointing festive period.
The champions dropped four points with back-to-back draws before winning 3-1 at Cagliari but then lost the Supercoppa to Napoli in Doha on penalties.
Juve are missing Andrea Barzagli, Kwadwo Asamoah and Romulo are absent through injury while Inter are without Yuto Nagatomo who is competing for Japan at the Asian Cup.
Inter have looked better after the arrival of Roberto Mancini but this will be a tough one and Juve should edge it.
Rafael Benitez's Napoli are short-priced favourites as they head for Cesena in high spirits having followed up their festive cup win against Juve and the capture of in-demand striker Manolo Gabbiadini.
The young Italy international had scored eight goals for Sampdoria before moving south but is banned for this afternoon's game.
Juan Camilo Zuniga, Michu, Lorenzo Insigne and Faouzi Ghoulam are also sidelined but Benitez is unlikely to make changes to the side that beat Juve.
For Cesena Guido Marilungo, Francesco Renzetti and Andrea Tabanelli are all missing through injury while French striker Gregoire Defrel serves a one-match ban.
In the morning match Roma travel to the north east without influential forward Gervinho and veteran midfielder Seydou Keita who have both travelled to the African Cup of Nations. while Salih Ucan, Federico Balzaretti, Leandro Castan and Antonio Sanabria are all out injured.
Luis Muriel, Emmanuel Badu and Alexis Zapata are all unavailable for hosts Udinese whose Roman boss Andrea Stramaccioni has pledged to stop the opposition in their tracks.
Parma, with new owners in place, are nine points adrift of safety having lost 13 of their 16 games.
Daniele Galloppa and Fabiano Santacroce are suspended, Ishak Belfodil and Afriyie Acquah are away to the to the African Cup of Nations and Jonathan Biabiany, Massimo Coda and Abdelkader Ghezzal are injured so Parma have problems.
Fiorentina are without Giuseppe Rossi while midfielder Borja Valero is suspended for a trip to a ground where they haven't lost since 2007. The Florence men look a decent bet at just under evens.
Genoa are a side on the up coach Gian Piero Gasperini expects his team to build on their remarkable efforts in late 2014 by kicking off the new year with another home victory.
His club are contenders for a Champions League place after putting together a run of five wins from nine Serie A games. The year ended with back-to-back defeats to Roma and Torino but Gasperini expects a reaction against Atalanta.
Genoa have signed midfielder Tino Costa on loan from Spartak Moscow but are missing Rolando Mandragora and Giovanni Marchese through injury while midfielder Diego Perotti is serving a three-match ban.
Relegation-threatened Atalanta arrive at the Stadio Luigi Ferraris without Nicolo Cherubin, Marcelo Estigarribia and Cristian Raimondi. Former Parma midfielder Luca Cigarini is suspended.
Central midfielder Tiberio Guarente is Empoli's only injury concern at home to Verona look to respond to their derby defeat to Chievo without Artur Ionita, Mounir Obbadi, Bosko Jankovic, Juanito Gomez and the suspended Rafael Marquez.
Verona boss Andrea Mandorlini has strengthened his options with the loan capture of former Roma midfielder Leandro Greco from Genoa.
Gianfranco Zola is hoping his return to Cagliari could bring about an improvement at the struggling Sardinian club.
The former Italy and Chelsea forward has taken the reins of the club where he retired as a player in 2005 following the dismissal of Zdenek Zeman, whose disappointing six-month tenure left Cagliari floundering in the Serie A relegation zone.
Swiss defender Fabio Daprela is the only injury concern for Palermo while 18th-placed Cagliari are without striker Marco Sau.
AC Milan are back in action after an impressive friendly win against Real Madrid and have exchanged misfiring striker Fernando Torres for Italy winger Alessio Cerci who arrives at San Siro following a disappointing half-season with Atletico Madrid.
Pablo Armero, Nigel de John and Philippe Mexes are all suspended while Keisuke Honda, Daniele Bonera, Marco van Ginkel and Michaelangelo Albertazzi miss out through injury.
Goalkeeper Gianluca Pegolo remains sidelined for Sassuolo who are also without Thomas Manfredini and Saphir Taider. The latter is with Algeria at the African Cup of Nations.
Roma DNB
Fiorentina DNB
Ac Milan win
£30 returns £89
Genoa v Atalanta has under 2.5 goals written all over it. Bit short at 4/6 though as I’m not a huge fan on betting on a lack of goals.
GOALSCORER TIP
JUVENTUS VS INTER MILAN
I said it for Mertesacker so I’m sticking my neck out on the line and saying that defender Lichsteiner is due a goal for Juventus. He does score now and again and whilst prices remain so good I will continue to back him until he scores. I have no idea why but for whatever reason 888Sport are overpricing this guy to find the net. It’s only a matter of time before they are punished. If you’re interested you can have odds of 31/1 for him to score first but for me the anytime price represents much better value.
Just to show you the huge difference in price here are the odds available for him elsewhere:
William Hill – 5/2
Ladbrokes – 3/1
Sky – 4/1
Coral – 4/1
Betfred – 4/1
Boylesports – 9/2
888Sport – 14/1
RECOMMENDED BET
Stephen Lichsteiner to score anytime @ 14/1
(888Sport)
Juventus to win to nil – 5/4
Fiorentina – 19/20
Everton 1/1
Thinking of a Double chance accum. What do you guys think:
Ac Milan DC
Fiorentina DC
Juve DC
Napoli DC
Genoa DC
2.04
Napoli / Juventus @1.96
NAPOLI Rafael; Maggio, Albiol, Henrique, Britos; David Lopez, Gargano; De Guzman, Hamsik, Callejon; Higuain
JUVENTUS 1 Buffon; 26 Lichtsteiner, 19 Bonucci, 3 Chiellini, 33 Evra; 8 Marchisio, 21 Pirlo, 6 Pogba; 23 Vidal; 10 Tevez, 14 Llorente.
Subs: 30 Storari, 34 Rubinho, 4 Caceres, 5 Ogbonna, 7 Pepe, 9 Morata, 11 Coman, 12 Giovinco, 20 Padoin, 37 Pereyra, 38 Mattiello, 39 Marrone
INTER 1 Handanovic; 14 Campagnaro, 23 Ranocchia, 5 Juan Jesus, 33 D’Ambrosio; 13 Guarin, 18 Medel, 17 Kuzmanovic; 10 Kovacic, 88 Hernanes; 9 Icardi.
Subs: 30 Carrizo, 6 Andreolli, 7 Osvaldo, 11 Podolski, 15 Vidic, 20 Obi, 22 Dodò, 28 Puscas, 44 Krhin, 54 Donkor, 90 M’Vila, 97 Bonazzoli