Fiorentina backed for Serie A success

It was twelve months ago that Italy's World Cup-winning celebrations were brought to an abrupt end by the Calciopoli scandal that heaped shame and chagrin upon Juventus, AC Milan and Fiorentina. This weekend Serie A gets under way on a level playing field although you might want to tell that to the bookmakers, who make Inter Milan 11/8 favourites to retain the Scudetto they won at a canter last year. There was no silencing Inter fans when they won the one-horse title race with a record-equalling five matches to spare in April. Not that is, until hard-done-by Milan fans painted the town red following their seventh Champions League success. This year, though, promises to be something of a return to normality. Juventus are back from Serie B and AC Milan and Fiorentina will not begin the season on minus points. Looking at the prices, though, you would think that they had been as Inter are a best-priced 11/8 with Blue Square. That price is not worth touching as Inter's last two titles have effectively been handed to them as a punishment to the rest. Roberto Mancini's men should be favourites as last season they looked reasonably solid. They have boosted their ageing squad with the signings of Cristian Chivu and David Suazo but have a tendency to crumble, as we have seen in their recent Champions League failures, when put under pressure. This year we can expect AC Milan to run them close. Last season's eight docked points put paid to a championship challenge further hampered by the lack of pre-season training. The Rossoneri were forced to play in the Champions League qualifiers and were unprepared for the rescheduled league programme. They have boosted their squad by signing Emerson from Real Madrid and Brazilian wonderkid Pato and retained the nucleus of the side that triumphed - 2/1 is a fair price. For promoted Juventus a degree of rebuilding needs to be done before they can challenge again and Claudio Ranieri will relish the tinkering required to push for fourth place. Roma managed to beat Inter in the Italian SuperCup at the weekend but lack the consistency to challenge. They will also sorely miss Chivu at the back. Of the outsiders Fiorentina look the most appealing proposition for an each way bet. Last year they finished sixth despite being docked 15 points and their coach Cesare Prandelli is a hugely underrated coach. The loss of Luca Toni will hurt them but they have a carbon copy in Giampaolo Pazzini waiting to fill his boots, Adrian Mutu is a man reborn and the Viola have brought in Arturo Lupoli and Christian Vieri as cover. Verdict: 2pts e/w Fiorentina to win Serie A without top two @ 11/1 (general); 0.5pts e/w Fiorentina to win Serie A @ 33/1 (SportingBet).