Serie A returns on Saturday, with Milan looking to retain their title after a first Scudetto triumph in 11 years.
The Rossoneri have brought in Belgium duo Charles De Ketelaere and Divock Origi to bolster Stefano Pioli's squad as they prepare to face another challenge from rivals Inter.
Simone Inzaghi will have his own Belgium international striker Romelu Lukaku to call on again after he was brought back on loan from Chelsea.
How will those clubs fare, who is likely to be their closest challengers, and who will be fearing the drop from Italy's top flight?
Stats Perform AI has predicted the outcome of the campaign, estimating the likelihood of teams finishing in each position informed by their expected results in each match.
These are calculated using betting odds and Stats Perform's team rankings – based on historical and recent team performances – and have thrown up some interesting results, with a heavy favourite for top spot.
INTER TO TAKE THEIR TITLE BACK WITH FAMILIAR FACE ON BOARD
In the end, there were just two points in it.
A fascinating battle between Milan and Inter last season saw Pioli's men edge the title with 86 points after a 3-0 win at Sassuolo on the final day.
Despite the impressive way Milan closed out that title, the data makes Inter 47.97 per cent favourites to regain it in 2022-23.
The return of Lukaku is likely to be a big reason for that, with the 29-year-old having scored 47 goals in 72 Serie A games prior to joining Chelsea last year, and he played a major part in Inter's Scudetto win in 2020-21.
Milan's chances are surprisingly not even second best, with the data suggesting there is a 16.43 per cent likelihood of them retaining their title, with Juventus judged to have a slightly better 17.93 per cent chance.
Napoli are deemed to have a 13.75 per cent chance, with no other team being considered to have any more than a two per cent chance, including Jose Mourinho's Roma at 1.99 per cent.
TOP FOUR FIGHT EXPECTED TO BE MORE OF THE SAME
There was very little drama in the race for the Champions League spots last season, with Napoli and Juventus well out of the title fight but clear of fifth place with multiple games to go.
Stats Perform AI expects the same four teams to take up those spots again, albeit in a different order, with Juve in second, Milan third and Napoli fourth.
The positive numbers for the Bianconeri are likely to be a result of Serbia striker Dusan Vlahovic having a full season to lead the line, along with big name additions of Paul Pogba and Angel Di Maria.
Napoli could be the most at risk after losing several key players since the end of last season, including Kalidou Koulibaly, Lorenzo Insigne and Dries Mertens, but they are still given a 73.09 per cent chance of Champions League qualification.
In the chasing pack, Roma are given a 30.18 per cent chance of a top four spot and Stats Perform AI believes Mourinho's men are the likeliest team to finish in one of the two Europa League places, with no team given a greater chance than the Giallorossi's 19.58 per cent.
Atalanta have a 20.64 per cent chance of getting back into the top four, though are still deemed likely to improve on last season's eighth place as favourites for sixth and qualification for the Europa League (18.56 per cent).
That leaves Lazio with a 17.09 per cent chance of seventh and a Europa Conference League spot, though Fiorentina (11.10), Hellas Verona (8.45) and Sassuolo (8.34) are not counted out entirely.
CREMONESE UNLIKELY TO RISE TO THE TOP
It is not too much of a surprise to see the promoted teams are predicted to be facing a tough task to stay up.
Cremonese are the favourites for the drop at 63.41 per cent, with Lecce (47.10 per cent) also expected to head back to Serie B at the end of the campaign.
Second favourites for relegation, though, are last year's 17th place team Salernitana, who avoided relegation by a single point ahead of Cagliari. Davide Nicola's side are handed a 58.10 per cent chance of failing to escape this time.
Monza came up through the play-offs and have made a number of new signings, including former Inter players Andrea Ranocchia and Stefano Sensi, which could be why they are given just a 27.92 per cent chance of going back down, slightly ahead of Empoli at 25.17 per cent.
Only four teams are given a zero per cent chance of relegation, which unsurprisingly is last season's top four.
Cooper sacked by Leicester after winless run
Leicester City have dismissed manager Steve Cooper after a run of four Premier League games without a win.
Cooper, who previously managed Leicester's rivals Nottingham Forest, only took charge of the Foxes for 15 games in all competitions.
He was appointed in June, after Enzo Maresca left to join Chelsea following Leicester's promotion back to the Premier League.
After going six league games without a win at the start of the season, Cooper appeared to have steadied the ship with victories over Bournemouth and Southampton.
However, a winless streak of four top-flight matches, in which Leicester lost to Forest, Manchester United and Chelsea, while drawing with Ipswich Town, has seen Cooper lose his position.
In a statement released on Sunday, Leicester confirmed Cooper's assistants Alan Tate and Steve Rands had also left the club, with Ben Dawson set to take charge until a replacement is appointed.
Former Brighton and Chelsea boss Graham Potter was reportedly in talks to join Leicester prior to Cooper's appointment in the summer.
The Foxes are 16th in the Premier League on 10 points after 12 games.
Southampton 2-3 Liverpool: Salah brace sends Reds eight points clear
Liverpool went eight points clear at the top of the Premier League as they came from behind to seal a thrilling 3-2 victory over Southampton at St Mary's.
Two second-half goals from Mohamed Salah turned Sunday's game on its head after Mateus Fernandes had given bottom club Southampton a surprise 2-1 lead.
Dominik Szoboszlai had given Liverpool a 30th-minute lead by curling home via the far post after Flynn Downes' dreadful clearance landed at his feet inside the area.
However, the outstanding Tyler Dibling was felled by Andrew Robertson for a Southampton penalty on the stroke of half-time. Adam Armstrong's spot-kick was repelled by Caoimhin Kelleher, but the striker kept his nerve to tuck home the equaliser.
Armstrong then turned provider when Fernandes swept home Southampton's second in the 56th minute, but their lead would not last.
Salah cushioned a searching Ryan Gravenberch pass beyond a stranded Alex McCarthy for 2-2 in the 65th minute, then saw his inswinging cross handled by Southampton substitute Yukinari Sugawara seven minutes from time.
The Egyptian scored what proved to be the winner from the resulting penalty, and he almost got a hat-trick when he crashed a shot off the base of the post in the 88th minute.
Southampton remain bottom of the table, five points adrift of 17th-placed Wolves. Liverpool, meanwhile, are sitting pretty ahead of next week’s meeting with Manchester City, who were routed 4-0 by Tottenham on Saturday.
Data Debrief: Salah helps Slot into history books
Despite a lacklustre defensive performance, Liverpool earned their 10th victory in 12 Premier League games this season (one draw, one defeat), thanks primarily to Salah's quality in attack.
Salah has become the first Liverpool player to score in five successive Premier League games since the Egyptian himself did so in seven straight matches in October 2021.
His penalty, meanwhile, was his 100th goal away from Anfield for the Reds across all competitions.
Slot has now joined former Chelsea bosses Guus Hiddink and Carlo Ancelotti as the fastest managers to reach 10 Premier League wins upon their arrival in the division.
Chelsea shake off fatigue against Man Utd to extend winning run
Chelsea had to overcome fatigue, and survive a late scare, to beat Manchester United 1-0 in the Women's Super League on Sunday.
Guru Reiten's 17th-minute penalty proved decisive at Kingsmeadow in a rearranged fixture that was postponed earlier in the campaign due to Chelsea's Champions League exploits.
United came close to ending Sonia Bompastor's remarkable winning run and keeping their unbeaten start going when Melvine Malard's effort clattered the crossbar, but Chelsea escaped unscathed to move five points clear of Manchester City at the top.
The Blues are just the second team in WSL history to win their first eight games of a season, after Arsenal in 2018-19.
And Bompastor was particularly pleased with how her team, who mustered 2.1 expected goals (xG) to United's 0.2, shrugged off the tiredness to get the job done.
"I think it was a tough game today, we were expecting that," Bompastor told the media, as reported by the Press Association.
"United do not concede a lot of goals so we knew they were coming with a good defensive organisation, and we had to have a really good game with the ball.
"Especially with the wind today, it was difficult for us to build and to play more, so I am just a bit disappointed at the fact we couldn't play more.
"Sometimes the most important thing is to get the three points, especially because we have been in a run playing five games in two weeks. I think the players are a little bit fatigued as well."
Chelsea have now won 11 consecutive WSL matches, which is their longest-ever winning run in the competition. The last team to have a longer winning run in the competition were Man City last season between November and April (14 in a row).
Maika Hamano and Sjoeke Nusken had early opportunities for the Blues, before Mayra Ramirez was brought down by United's Phallon Tullis-Joyce, who was unable to keep out Reiten's composed spot-kick.
Reiten has now netted six goals in her eight WSL appearances this term.
Johanna Rytting Kaneryd wasted a good chance to put Chelsea further in front, when she elected to shoot rather than pass and her effort was blocked by Maya Le Tissier.
That profligacy might have proved costly in stoppage time, but the woodwork came to Chelsea's rescue after Malard got a shot off following a neat bit of skill to evade Millie Bright.
"Chelsea are the best team in the country, they're the champions for a reason. We said we would give everything from the off and the players have given everything," said United boss Marc Skinner, who was without injured striker Elisabeth Terland.
"Both teams had to play the conditions, but the pride I feel for the team and their commitment to what we're doing, and know we can do, I'm proud of their performance. For us it was about being calculated and always opening up more in the second half, we changed shape in the last 15 minutes to really give an attacking threat.
"We opened up, Chelsea took a few more opportunities. You have to balance the game, you go toe-to-toe with Chelsea and they probably win against most teams."
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