Atalanta vs SPAL 21/01/20

21 January 2020

Atalanta welcome rock-bottom SPAL to the Stadio Atleti Azzurri d’Italia, lining up another success that would keep them on course for a top-four finish in Serie A (SA).

Although they’ve endured mixed fortunes in their last ten SA matches (W4, D3, L3), three of those triumphs have come in the past five outings, as Atalanta continue their battle for a top-four finish. Sitting fourth in the table, level on points with fifth-placed Roma, the hosts have no margin for error against a side they’ve outplayed in both of their previous top-flight H2Hs. Gian Piero Gasperini also has a four-game winning home run in all competitions to draw inspiration from, especially as three of those successes saw Atalanta shut their opponents out. Additionally, ‘La Dea’ boast the league’s best attacking record, having scored 49 SA goals so far, with 57% of those goals coming on home turf. Indeed, Atalanta have bagged over 1.5 goals in seven of nine SA home fixtures, although finding the opening goal on just 44% of those occasions.

Meanwhile, a 1-0 away defeat Fiorentina now means that the visitors have lost five of their last six SA games (W1), as they remain nailed to the bottom of the table. ‘Gli Spallini’ have not only managed just three SA triumphs so far, but only one of those successes has come on the road (D1, L8). What’s more, no team has scored fewer away goals than SPAL (4) to date, with Leonardo Semplici’s men drawing a blank in seven of ten league road trips. Things get worse for SPAL here, considering they’ve lost all four of their previous trips to the top-five sides, conceding over two or more goals in each of those failures – with three of them coming via a two-goal margin. Probably the one thing that can encourage the traveling fans is that ‘I Biancazzurri’ have found the net in all five of their top-flight H2Hs with Atalanta.