Serie A Takeaways: Three things we learned from Matchday 24

Serie A Matchday 24 was perhaps one of the more predictable slates so far this season (though more on that below) ... no team above 11th lost, and no team below 12th won.

Here are three things we learned, with the season just approaching two-thirds completed.

The big teams are in their stride

Take the top four teams in the league and look at their past five matches each; over a combined 20 games, there have been exactly two losses (Roma against Sampdoria, Inter away at Juventus) and one draw (Napoli’s shock result hosting Palermo).

Oh, and 17 wins.

Calcio’s biggest teams are stabilising at the most important part of the season, and the gap between the best and the rest is starting to grow. The only real surprise in the top half of the table, perhaps, is Atalanta, who are stunningly fifth, equal on points with Inter and ahead of Lazio, Milan, and Fiorentina. In a season where small sides have disappointed (just take a quick glance at the bottom half of the table), what Gian Piero Gasperini is pulling off in Bergamo is nothing short of astounding.

With a quality, tenacious young side, La Dea have quietly sauntered their way towards the top of the 2017 form table, by dispatching the lower sides of the league with a minimum of fuss. It’s no wonder half the peninsula seems to desire Franck Kessie and co.

Matches: Either wildly competitive, or routine victories

Roma, Juventus, Inter, and Napoli dispatched Crotone, Cagliari, Empoli, and Genoa with almost no fuss at all this weekend, thanks largely to second half goals, and kept their opponents shut out to booth.

On the other hand, Torino-Pescara turned into a modern classic; within 15 minutes, Torino were up by three. With two-thirds of the game gone, they had a five-goal margin. The worst side in the league refused to concede defeat, however, and launched a nearly remarkable comeback with three goals in a ten-minute spell that saw Torino’s position go from “insurmountable” to “more than slightly worrying.”

Bologna had too small of a margin away at Sampdoria and crumbled with an even quicker succession of trebles, conceding three goals between the 82nd and 88th minute to let a 1-0 away victory slip violently into a resounding defeat.

Lazio, similarly, will be ruing their luck after Milan equalised with a late, late goal to snatch a point in Rome and keep the Europa League spots within their reach.

Capocannoniere watch

There were no goals this week from Mauri Icardi or Dries Mertens, but the race for Italy’s highest goalscorer certainly got more interesting. Edin Dzeko’s strike against Crotone put him at 18 goals for the season and in sole possession of the top spot – that is, until Gonzalo Higuain fired a brace against Cagliari to match the Bosnian’s tally for the season later the same evening.

Andrea Belotti also fired twice against Pescara to take his total to 17 goals, one off the top. Had Dzeko notched his penalty he would be in sole possession of the number one spot, but that minor blemish shouldn’t take away from what has been a superbly rebounded season for the striker, who had only eight league goals throughout the entire season in 2015-2016.