Napoli and Juventus are off to perfect starts in Serie A, with the two Milan teams already five points behind through two rounds.

While Inter is struggling to find its identity under new coach Gian Piero Gasperini, defending champion Milan’s poor start has been a surprise.

Milan have conceded five goals in their opening two matches and today face an Udinese side led by Serie A’s leading scorer for the past two seasons. Udinese captain Antonio Di Natale scored a combined 57 goals over his last two Serie A campaigns and has already found the target twice this season.

Napoli visits Chievo Verona in the midweek round, while Juventus hosts Bologna and Inter visits newly promoted Novara.

Milan opened with a 2-2 draw against Lazio, then lost 3-1 at Napoli on Sunday following a hat trick from Edinson Cavani.

“We’ve had two poor performances in the league,” Milan coach Massimiliano Allegri said. “We need to improve because we’ve already allowed five goals in two games and that’s unusual for this squad.”

Throw in a 2-2 draw at Barcelona in the Champions League and Milan has allowed seven goals in three matches.

Part of the blame for Milan’s troubles can be attributed to injuries - with Zlatan Ibrahimovic out for up to a month with a leg injury and midfielders Massimo Ambrosini, Gennaro Gattuso and Kevin-Prince Boateng also unavailable - but the squad has also appeared distracted at times.

“We’ve got to be more determined in front of the goal and more attentive in defence,” Allegri said.

Meanwhile, Gasperini still appears unsure of his lineup with Samuel Eto’o having left unexpectedly for Russian club Anzhi Makhachkala.

Gasperini replaced newly signed forward Mauro Zarate with playmaker Wesley Sneijder midway through the first half of Inter’s 4-3 loss to Palermo in the season opener, then was criticised for removing another newly signed striker, Diego Forlan, for midfielder Sulley Muntari with 11 minutes remaining in Saturday’s 0-0 draw with Roma.

With Inter having also lost its Champions League opener to Turkish side Trabzonspor, Gasperini could be fired if he doesn’t guide the squad to a win over Novara, which is back in the top division after 55 years.

In Napoli, fans are still talking about Cavani’s hat trick, with the Uruguay striker also having scored in a 1-1 draw with big-spending Manchester City to open the Champions League.

The previous player to score a hat trick against Milan was Gabriel Batistuta in a 3-1 win for Fiorentina in September 1998.

“There’s a lot of joy and that’s the most important thing,” said Cavani, who scored three hat tricks last season. “We know what our defects are and what we need to do to improve.”

Having finished seventh last season and missed out on Europe, Juventus has regained its swagger under new coach Antonio Conte, a former player for the Turin powerhouse.

The arrival of Italy midfielder Andrea Pirlo from Milan has also been a big boost.

“This is a squad with a well-defined identity,” Conte said. “(Pirlo) is a champion in every sense of the word.”

Also today, it’s: Cesena vs. Lazio; Fiorentina vs. Parma; Genoa vs. Catania; Lecce vs. Atalanta; and Palermo vs. Cagliari.

Fiorentina forward Alberto Gilardino will be out for up to six weeks after his left knee buckled during a collision with Udinese goalkeeper Samir Handanovic in a 2-0 loss for the Tuscan club on Sunday.

Roma, which faces Siena tomorrow, also lost a key player to injury, with goalkeeper Maarten Stekelenburg out for up to a month after getting kicked in the head by Inter defender Lucio.