AC Milan, Inter, Lazio or Napoli, who will claim the 3rd and qualify for the Champions League in Serie A this season ?

The Serie A season is well and truly under way. This season looks set to be a very exciting one as you feel that it's going to be very close between Juventus and Roma to see who will win the Scuedetto this season. However, there is another big decision on who will get that vital important 3rd spot and qualify for the Champions League. I will be discussing all the teams that are in contention to finish 3rd in Serie A.

Lets start off with AC Milan. AC Milan had a very eventful transfer window, they made some very good signings by bringing in Carlos Bacca, Luiz Adriano and Andrea Bertolacci. Lets not forget they have brought back the maverick Mario Balotelli. You feel that Milan have the firepower upfront to hurt any team in the league. However, my fear for Milan is that there defending is not convincing enough which Empoli showed last Saturday night as they had a bucket load of chances which they did not take. If Empoli can expose Milan defensive frailties you'd expect the likes of Juventus and Roma to punish them. On a better note, the Rossoneri do boast amazing firepower upfront and if the likes of Bacca, Luiz Adriano and Mario Balotelli, when he's fit, score goals AC Milan will stand a great chance this season. 

Lets talk about AC Milan's city rivals Inter. Inter also had a very eventful transfer window. They brought in a top defender in Miranda from Atletico Madrid and brought Stevan Jovetic from Man City, and so far looks a steal with 2 goals in 2 Serie A games. They've also brought in one of the best young defensive midfielders in Geoffery Kondogbia and talented attackers in Adem Llajic and Peresic. On the other hand, they have lost players. They've lost the extremely talented Mateo Kovacic to Real Madird and lost Hernanas to Serie A rivals Juventus. With all this transfer activity that happened at Inter, I feel that they have got a very strong squad and unlike AC Milan they've got a good and boasted defence. Inter have got the firepower up front with Stevan Jovetic, Rodrigo Palacio and Inter's main attacking threat Mauro Icardi. They've got a powerful and rugged midfield with Guarin, Medel, Kondogbia and Felipe Melo, who is another new signing. Defensively is where I believe big improvements have been made with the signing of Miranda, who I believe will improve their defense immensely. They've also handed him a new partner at centre back in Jeison Murillo who was impressive at the Copa America for Columbia. It's all looking good for Inter. However, my problem is that they've lost all there creative players, as I said they've lost Kovacic and Hernanes but lets not forget they lost Xherdan Shaqiri who has gone to Stoke. So this has left me wondering where will they creativity come from, Jovetic or Peresic maybe ?

Lets go to Rome and talk Lazio. Lazio had a fantastic season last year. They secured that all important 3rd place on the final day of the season against Napoli, it was some game. However, Lazio have had a terrible start to this season by being knocked out the Champions League already by Bayer Leverkusen and also they were beating 4 - 0 by Chievo in Serie A last weekend. Furthermore, Lazio haven't really done much in the transfer window, in my opinion, although they have brought in the extremely talented winger Ricardo Kishina from Ajax, who will definitely excite the Stadio Olimpico crowd, and we finally get to see Ravel Morrison play for Lazio, and just to say if Stefano Pioli can get the best out of him, they have got some player in their ranks. Other than that they haven't really done much while all the other sides in an around them have got better. So I believe it is going to be down to the squad of last season to put in some stellar performances for them to reach third and lets not forget they have got some really good players, with the likes of Felipe Anderson, Antonio Candreva and Keita Balde. Only time will tell for Lazio. 

TO NAPLES AND GON-ZA-LO. Napoli had a disastrous end to last season. On the final day of the season they had to beat Lazio to qualify for the Champions League but they do still boast a quality squad for this season. The likes of Hamsik, Callejon, Insinge and of course Gonzalo Higuain will look to push Napoli back into the Champions League. Napoli, overall, have a good squad but no doubt about it the main man they will be looking to for inspiration will be Gonzalo Higuain.

Arsenal's Striking issues.

It has been well known that Arsenal have needed a top quality to fire them to become Premier League champions and also help them do better in the Champions League. However, due to there being a lack of real top quality strikers in Europe, Arsene Wenger has made the decision not to sign anybody and to stick to what he has already.

Arsenal were linked with a lot of top quality in this summer transfer window. They were linked to strikers like Edinson Cavani, Zlatan Ibrahimovic of Paris Saint-Germain, but most noticeably they were linked heavily through the summer for Real Madrid's Karim Benzema. Arsenal fans were dreaming of this transfer happening as a lot of agents stuck their neck on the line by saying this deal with definitely happen. It didn't. Benzema came out just over a week ago saying he's staying at Real Madrid and that the fans shouldn't believe all the reports that were going around.

So where did this leave Arsenal on deadline day ? Arsenal were left with options that were no where near the calibre of Karim Benzema or Edinson Cavani, although reports were circulating that Arsene Wenger was in Paris to complete a deal for the PSG striker. Arsenal were left with the option for players like Alexander Kokorin and Alexandre Pato. Remember him ? So as deadline day unfolded, time was running out for Arsenal to do any business at all, which they didn't as the 6pm deadline came and the transfer window in England was closed.

So where does this leave Arsenal now ? As I said earlier it looks Arsene Wenger will have to do with what he has until January at least, I personally believe that Arsene Wenger has spoken to Olivier Giroud telling him that he has put his faith in him to get the goals to help Arsenal win the Premiership as he has shown a lot of faith in him throughout his Arsenal career. This season will no doubt be a big season for Giroud as he has had his critics, including Arsenal's all time record goalscorer Theirry Henry, Giroud will be hoping to prove them wrong as he hopes to be the man that fires Arsenal to the title

Furthermore, Arsenal not signing a striker leaves an even bigger burden on the shoulders of Arsenal's Alexis Sanchez. You feel that he is going to have to do even better than his 16 goals he got in the Premier League last season. No doubt that Alexis can do it and help lead Arsenal to the title but he will need help and this is where Mesut Ozil comes in. This is going to be a huge season for Mesut Ozil now as Arsenal are going to need him to be at his excellent best throughout the season as he will be the one that Wenger will surely be looking at to create even more chances for the Giroud, Sanchez, Walcott and even Welbeck, as we must not forget they do have them as options for that role up top.

Overall, Arsene Wenger is showing belief in his squad players that they can deliver the title, what he hopes for now is that they deliver and that the fans really get behind the team.