Serie A title race enters New Year with five clubs in the mix

Dec 31 : The ‌New Year kicks off with four points separating the top five in the Serie A standings with Inter Milan, AC Milan, Napoli, AS Roma and Juventus all with a realistic shot at the title.

Inter hold top spot after a four-match winning run and on Sunday they host Bologna who put an end to their Italian Super Cup hopes this month with a semi-final win on penalties.

Bologna have hit a dip in league form, without a win in their last four games to slip to seventh and 10 points adrift of Inter, who are still without the injured ‌Denzel Dumfries, Francesco Acerbi and Ange-Yoan Bonny.

Inter are the top scorers in the league, ‌with 35 goals in 16 games and this season's leading marksman in Serie A, Lautaro Martinez with nine goals, will lead the line at the San Siro alongside Marcus Thuram.

Milan, second in the standings and one point behind their neighbours, travel to Cagliari on Friday. Massimiliano Allegri's side are unbeaten in 16 league games while Cagliari have won only two out of eight home matches.

Rafael Leao is an injury doubt for Milan, but Allegri will have striker Niclas Fullkrug available after his recent arrival on loan from West ‍Ham United.

The German will likely be on the bench with Christian Pulisic and Christopher Nkunku set to start up front as Milan aim to move top when they kick off the weekend's action and put pressure on Inter.

HOJLUND REVIVAL UNDER CONTE

Napoli returned from their Super Cup success with a win at Cremonese to stay third and sit two points off the leaders ahead of an away game at ​Lazio on Sunday where the league champions come ‌up against former manager Maurizio Sarri, who underwent a minor heart operation this week but was expected to return to his regular duties within days.

Napoli