Serie A PREVIEW | Atalanta v Juventus

A six-pointer clash is on the menu today as 4th-placed Juventus go head-to-head with 5th-placed Atalanta at the Gewiss Stadium.

Atalanta approach this match on the back of a 1-0 victory against Hellas Verona. Teun Koopmeiner’s only goal stood the difference between the two sides as La Dea secured a third straight win across all competitions. The game also marked Atalanta’s achievement of winning three consecutive games by keeping a clean sheet for the first time in almost a year.

Manager Gian Piero Gasperini has steered his side fairly well into the new season, picking up four victories and conceding only five goals. Defeats to Fiorentina and newly promoted Frosinone dampened the Bergamo-based side’s early charge for the Scudetto but their focus on finishing in the top four remains comfortably very much a possibility this season.

Meanwhile, Juventus will head into this game hoping for a consecutive win and to leapfrog Napoli in the league standings. Massimiliano Allegri has worked wonders with this team which found it hard to score last season but now they are finding it rather easy to pop in the goals this campaign. 

The attacking duo of Dusan Vlahovic and Federico Chiesa has reached a tally of eight goals from the first six games of the new season as both players hope to continue the momentum. The Bianconeri made a tremendous start to the season but were stopped by a 4-2 defeat to Sassuolo, however, they recovered soon and got back to winning ways versus Lecce.

Results from their last five matches across all competitions:

Atalanta:

W W W L W

Juventus:

W L W W D

Team News

Atalanta will miss the likes of El Bilal Toure and Gianluca Scamacca for the long term. 

Ademola Lookman will start upfront with Charles De Ketelaere. Mario Pasalic can be played as a false nine.

As for Juventus, Alex Sandro, Mattia De Sciglio and Paul Pogba are the long-term absentees. 

Dusan Vlahovic was seen with a back issue last week and will miss the game. Arkadiusz Milik felt discomfort in his calf and is also ruled out. Moise Kean will start the match. 

Predicted XIs

Atalanta (3-4-2-1): Musso; Toloi, Scalvini, Kolasinac; Zappacosta, De Roon, Ederson, Ruggeri; Lookman, Koopmeiners; De Ketelaere

Juventus (3-5-2): Szczesny; Gatti, Bremer, Danilo; McKennie, Fagioli, Locatelli, Rabiot, Cambiaso; Chiesa, Kean. 

Trambak Bhattacherjee | GIFN