Serie A still has no clear front-runner with Napoli and Roma level on top

ROME (AP) — Nearly a quarter of the way through Serie A there’s still no clear front-runner.

Defending champion Napoli and Gian Piero Gasperini’s Roma are level on top, three points ahead of the two Milan clubs.

Nobody is counting out Inter Milan, which has a deeper bench than any of the other contenders, or AC Milan, which isn’t competing in Europe and will be more rested as the season wears on.

The parity is nothing new.

Serie A has become the most unpredictable of Europe’s five biggest domestic soccer leagues with four different champions over the last six seasons, with last season marking the second time in four years that the title race went down to the last round.

Sunday’s meeting between Milan and Roma at the San Siro could add some clarity to the title race.

Napoli could be tested, too, with a visit by fifth-placed Como on Saturday.

With Luciano Spalletti expected to be hired to replace the fired Igor Tudor at Juventus, the former Napoli and Italy coach could make his debut with the Bianconeri at Cremonese this weekend.

Juventus ended an eight-match winless run by beating Udinese under interim coach Massimo Brambilla on Wednesday.

Facing Cremonese could be complicated. The promoted club is exceeding expectations in eighth place — with only one loss.

Meanwhile, Stefano Pioli at winless Fiorentina and Patrick Vieira at last-placed Genoa risk losing their jobs if their clubs can’t beat Lecce and Sassuolo, respectively.

The arrival of former Leicester striker Jamie Vardy attracted attention to Cremonese at the start of the season. But it’s been Federico Bonazzoli who has emerged as the club’s leading forward.

Bonazzoli scored twice in a 2-0 win at Genoa on Wednesday, his first coming with a bicycle kick, to raise his total to four goals this season.

Hakan Calhanoglu leads the league with five goals for Inter after his brace in a 2-0 win over Fiorentina.

Napoli midfielder Kevin De Bruyne could be out until March after undergoing surgery to repair his injured right thigh.

He joins Belgium teammate Romelu Lukaku on Napoli’s long-term injury list.

Lukaku injured his left thigh in a preseason game and could return in December.

Serie A is still waiting for the Asian Football Confederation to approve holding a game between Milan and Como in Perth, Australia, in February.

Both Milan and Como fans have voiced opposition to traveling so far for a game between clubs situated less than an hour apart.

Also recently, Serie A president Ezio Simonelli said he supports moving evening matches to 8 p.m. starts instead of the current 8:45 p.m. kickoff times.

“Let’s allow kids,” Simonelli said, “the chance to watch an entire game.”

AP soccer: https://apnews.com/hub/soccer

Roma's Gianluca Mancini vies for the ball with Plzen's Rafiu Durosinmi, right, during the Europa League opening phase soccer match between AS Roma and Viktoria Plzen in Rome, Thursday, Oct. 23, 2025. (AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino)

Pisa's Idrissa Toure kicks the ball in front of AC Milan's Alexis Saelemaekers during the Serie A soccer match between AC Milan and Pisa in Milan, Italy, Friday, Oct. 24, 2025. (AP Photo/Antonio Calanni)

Inter Milan's Petar Sucic celebrates with his teammate Alessandro Bastoni after scoring his side's second goal during the Serie A soccer match between Inter Milan and Fiorentina in Milan, Italy, Wednesday, Oct. 29, 2025. (AP Photo/Antonio Calanni)

Ukrainian forces fired more than 1,000 drones at Russia overnight, including hundreds launched toward Moscow, officials said Sunday as the Kremlin was wrapping up the third and last day of its parliamentary elections.

Moscow’s mayor described the wave of drones as the “largest ever” attack on the Russian capital and said there had been damage to a Moscow oil refinery and a residential building.

Across the wider Moscow region, the attack killed two people and wounded 20, local Gov. Andrei Vorobyov said. The dead were a 74-year-old man and a 44-year-old woman, he said.

There was no immediate comment from Ukraine on the attack.

The voting in Russia was the country's first wartime parliamentary election — a balloting that was virtually devoid of opposition to President Vladimir Putin’s policies and is all but certain to cement the Kremlin’s dominance.

Russia also held voting in four Ukrainian regions that Moscow illegally annexed after the war began but still doesn’t fully control, and in Crimea, the Black Sea peninsula that was illegally annexed by Russia in 2014. Kyiv has denounced the action as illegal.

Russia’s Ministry of Defense said that its forces shot down 1,100 Ukrainian drones across the country, as well as over the annexed Ukrainian peninsula of Crimea and the waters of the Black Sea.

Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said that 450 drones had been destroyed en route to the Russian capital, and that the attack had damaged the Moscow Oil Refinery and a residential building.

He said the “unprecedented attack” on the capital was an attempt to disrupt the elections.

"The enemy failed in this regard," he said.

In this photo provided by Ukraine's 65th Mechanized Brigade press service, Ukrainian soldiers prepare an FPV drone to fire towards Russian positions in Zaporizhzhia region, Ukraine, Saturday, Sept. 19, 2026. (Andriy Andriyenko/Ukraine's 65th Mechanized Brigade via AP)

In this photo provided by Ukraine's 65th Mechanized Brigade press service, a Ukrainian soldier prepares an FPV drone to fire towards Russian positions in Zaporizhzhia region, Ukraine, Saturday, Sept. 19, 2026. (Andriy Andriyenko/Ukraine's 65th Mechanized Brigade via AP)

In this photo provided by Ukraine's 65th Mechanized Brigade press service, a Ukrainian soldier prepares an FPV drone to fire towards Russian positions in Zaporizhzhia region, Ukraine, Saturday, Sept. 19, 2026. (Andriy Andriyenko/Ukraine's 65th Mechanized Brigade via AP)

In this photo provided by Ukraine's 65th Mechanized Brigade press service, a Ukrainian soldier prepares an FPV drone to fire towards Russian positions in Zaporizhzhia region, Ukraine, Saturday, Sept. 19, 2026. (Andriy Andriyenko/Ukraine's 65th Mechanized Brigade via AP)