Serie A is currently led by Napoli. But I really do not feel that this is going to be permanent. I just simply cannot think that a team that has made mistakes in the past and eventually did not finish in a position which they should have, is likely to play really well throughout the whole season. I think they are almost certain to make mistakes and the other teams will punish them for it.
The performance of AC Milan, the defending champion seems to be questionable. Currently, they are in second place. But they are also eight points behind. They have not been very consistent as well. Inter aren't the favorite to win the league title. They are 11 points behind. They will have to improve significantly after the World Cup if they want to have a chance at the league title.
The competition is certainly going to be very tough towards the end of the season. But I think Napoli has the best advantage right now.
Even though in the first half of this season Napoli have been quite consistent in Serie A, they are not necessarily able to maintain it until the second half of the season continues, because they are also playing in the Champions League. So that the concentration is not only on Serie A matches, let alone talking when players are injured, it will be very difficult to maintain consistency in playing, especially since Napoli's replacement squad is not balanced with the core players. The problem of player injuries is enough to interfere with their consistency in the continued matches of Serie A and the Champions League.
AC Milan and Juventus have the opportunity to catch Napoli, the difference of eight to nine points is not that far away, while there will still be a lot of matches. This indicates that Napoli must really maximize the remaining matches before ensuring the Scudetto.
After the World Cup all the teams will return to competition. Some teams are likely to be impacted due to the lengthy break in competition and it is possible that some players who played in the World Cup will be tired when they return to the club. In essence, the player's fitness factor is the most important thing that must always be considered by the coach.
Napoli certainly benefited greatly from this situation, because three of its rival teams, AC Milan, Juventus and Inter Milan sent quite a number of players to Qatar. Thus, I am quite sure that Napoli will be very difficult to catch due to the fact that their players are fitter, even though there is a possibility that they will slip, they already have a wide enough gap in points from their competitors.