There was a twist in the title race last weekend as Milan were surprisingly beaten at home by struggling Fiorentina while in-form Juventus edged past Palermo to take sole leadership in the standings.

With another round of matches played in midweek, Milan travelled to Chievo last night and Juve play today against Lazio.

It seems, Juve have destiny in their own hands and stand a fairly good chance to clinch their first domestic double since 1995 if they go on and lift the Coppa Italia in the May 20 final against Napoli.

Two weeks ago, the Bianconeri dashed Napoli’s hopes of making a top-three finish in the league when they handed the southerners their first defeat after a nine-match positive run with a resounding 3-0 victory at the Juventus Arena.

If Juve go all the way, coach Antonio Conte, himself a Juventus player between 1991 and 2004, would emulate Marcello Lippi who led the Old Lady to that memorable league and cup double in his debut season with the Bianconeri in 1994/95.

If this was to materialise, it would really be a big achievement for Juventus and Conte in particular, considering that he only took over the reins of a side (that had finished seventh in the previous two cam-paigns) last summer.

Both Juventus and Milan will play four of their remaining league fixtures on home soil.

Juve’s most tricky encounter will be tonight as they host third-placed Lazio who thrashed Napoli last Saturday in Rome.

Edy Reja’s Lazio cannot afford any slip-ups as Udinese are only three points behind them in fourth place as the run-in for the remaining Champions League berth starts to become hotter than ever.

Apart from today’s fixture, Juve’s last six matches all look winnable even if they also have to play hosts to Euro slot seekers Roma.

Milan have the derby against Inter coming up on the penultimate day. Excluding that particularly hot fixture, the current champions’ other matches are against opponents occupying positions in the bottom half of the standings.

Overall, this season Juventus have been more consistent than Milan who struggled in no small way against modest opponents in particular.

Conte’s men have done well in direct encounters and garnered a total of 22 points in 10 top encounters so far whereas Milan only managed 13 points in 11 direct clashes with the other big guns.

One can safely say that had Juventus been involved in less drawn outcomes against the likes of Genoa, Catania, Chievo and Bologna, they would have already opened an unassailable lead over their title rivals by this stage of the championship.

Nothing is yet won and lost though but if Juventus keep their levels of consistency high from now onwards, then it would be difficult for Milan to pip them to the post in May.

Serie A title run-in...

Serie A statistics

1 point separates new leaders Juventus – the only side still undefeated – from Milan with seven games to go. On Saturday, Juve conquered Palermo’s Renzo Barbera stadium for the first time since February 2009 (2-0) thanks to two second-half goals. This was Juve’s fourth successive win as Milan slumped to their first home loss to Fiorentina since May 2001 (2-1).

2 wins and two draws in their last four outings have enabled Chievo to climb higher in the standings. On Saturday, Catania confirmed their truly dire record in Verona as they suffered their third defeat in five winless visits. This was Catania’s first upset since going down to Juventus (3-1) on the 24th day.

5 penalties were awarded by referees on Saturday. Lecce’s David Di Michele completed his double by converting a 56th-minute penalty. Zlatan Ibrahimovic gave Milan a false dawn by scoring from the spot in the opening half and Sergio Pellissier doubled for Chievo by finding the back of the net from a penalty. Christian Ledesma wrapped up Lazio’s home win over Napoli and Marcelo Larrondo equalised for Siena thanks to a 13th-minute penalty goal. Of the 108 penalties taken so far, 89 were scored.

12th defeat (nine away) for Roma as Luis Enrique’s side were comprehensively beaten by Lecce for the first time down south. Serse Cosmi’s side, who returned to winning ways after a five-match winless streak, are currently four points adrift of fourth-bottom Genoa and Parma.

33 goals were scored on the 31st day: 18 coming from the hosts and the remaining 15 from the visitors. There were four home wins. Foreigners contributed with 15 goals while there were 14 first-half goals. Total number of goals scored so far is 794. Three players – Kwadwo Asamoah (Udinese), David Di Michele and Luis Muriel (both Lecce) – grabbed a brace each.