Serie A: Atalanta vs Roma Preview, Odds, Prediction

Atalanta hopes to continue its surge in Serie A this Saturday against AS Roma. La Dea is looking excellent, and despite being eliminated from the UEFA Champions League, they are not slowing down in the domestic championship. We’ve seen them bouncing back in the saddle in Verona, and the beating Roma is the perfect morale boost before the New Year’s challenges. Meanwhile, Il Lupi is looking unstable, but can still surprise. To be honest, we did expect more from Mourinho and his crew, but it is still early to criticize the Special One. After all, he is still forming the team.

Preview

Atalanta (-120) defeated Hellas Verona on the road, 1-2, recovering from a nasty defeat at home to Villarreal that eliminated them from the UEFA Champions League. This was the sixth straight Serie A win for La Dea, who is currently just three points away from the top spot, breathing down Inter and Milan’s neck.

Only one of their last 11 games didn’t end with over 2.5 goals, and in only one, Atalanta didn’t net twice or more. They are by far the most amusing team to watch in Europe right now.

When looking at the home games, Gasperini’s team wasn’t as confident as on the road, winning twice in the previous seven events and recording three draws and two defeats. Yet, in the latest six, La Dea netted 2+ goals.

AS Roma (+333) is coming off back-to-back wins, one in Europe Conference League against CSKA in Sofia, 2-3, and the other at home to Spezia, 2-0 in Tuesday’s Serie A meeting. We need to say that Il Lupi didn’t amaze anyone with the performances in these two events.

The efficiency of Roma’s matches is a bit unstable, it oscillates from time to time. At one part of the year, they were both scoring and allowing goals, but lately, the majority of their contests are with only one team netting. To be precise, six of the past seven ended like that.

Latest News

Gosens won’t play for the hosts, and he is the only one unavailable for Atalanta.

Roma is without Spinazzol, Pellegrini, El Shaarawy, and Afena-Gyan. The latter is suspended due to a red card, while all the others are injured.

Head to Head

Four of the past five games Atalanta and Roma played are with both teams netting. Last year, La Dea smashed the guests from the capital at home, 4-1, while the leg at Olimpice concluded with a draw, 1-1.

By the way, Roma has been without a win over this rival since 2017, or in seven consecutive events.

Prediction

We are behind Atalanta here because they look much better than the guests. We don’t think that the elimination from the UCL left some negative trace on La Dea’s morale, but it did quite the opposite – it motivated the players to be even better. They got out of a nasty situation in Verona, proving a massive mental strength. So, our final conclusion for this game is Atalanta to win, with the odds of -120 at the moment for that.

Pick: Atalanta wins -120